For a long time, "Faliure is the mother of success" has encouraged large amount of  "losers" to strive for their dreams and many of them really did it. Also, one of learning theories, namely trial-and-error, believes that the way people could learn is to experience mistakes.  Thus, not only popular saying but also sytemetic theory indicate the positive role of mistakes in the process of discovery or progress. However, is it equivalent to the statement that making mistakes is the only way to advance? No. I maintain that many factors and methods involved in the final results.
Admitedly, numerous cases covering both west and east, ancient and contemproray times could prove errors do accelarate advances. One of the most popolar example is Thomas Edision, a well-known American inventor and scientist, after hundred even thousand times trying and mistaking he successfully found the proper filament namely carbonize bamboo. Owing to the mistakes, he improved the lasting time of light bomb greatly and benefited to the world until nowadays. Furhtermore, others' mistakes also stimulate human being move foreward. Li Shizhen, a great Chinese herbologist and acupuncturist, his book named Compendium of Materia Medica is credited for its proper classification of herb components. However, his twenty-seven years hard work was originated from the finding of others' faults in the published herb books.Therefore, if without the disorder, mistakes and comflict information in most published medical books at that time, it may hardly intrigue him to  write such a book to remend them and leave the treasure of traditional Chinese Medicine.  
Just as Johann Wolfgang Goethe, a German poet and dramatist, says that " Men errs so long as he strives," however, not everyone who commit mistakes could finally achieve their goals or realize their dreams. Why? As far as I am concerned, the reason why mistakes encourage achievement  or progress is not mistakes themselves, but  the attitude we hold toward them.  Recalling to the experience of ourselves, we may easily find that there are more or less mistakes and regrets. Take my procrastination for example, when I was in university I always put out my assignments  and completed them vexedly before the day of deadline. Few of times I missed the deadline and then I made a decision to change this habit. Unfortunately, I did not take this seriously although I really worried about it. Untill one day, due to my procrastination I could not finish my application to the graduate school. This terrible experience teaches me a valuable lesson: I have to admit and change my mistakes with courage and perseverance. Most of times, we often find excuses for our faults or complain others and environment, to large extent this block our way to correct it and stuck in the circle of repeating the same mistakes. Thus, in order to make progress through mistakes, the most important thing we can do is introspect profoundly and take action immediately.
What is more, the way which could lead to new findings like a spectrum embodys various of factors, such as  hard-working, curiosity, learning and reading. However, apart from individual's qualities and experience, a more crucial factor influenced the pace of development is social surroundings. We human beings are social animals, effected by the values and restained by social regulations, moral standards and laws. In ancient times, people eked out in severe natural disasters and attacks. They were struggling to hold their own, thus it sounds unbelievable for our  ancestors  to invent computer, cell phone. However, in modern society, it is not uncommon to use IPHONE, Twitter, Facebook to communicate with people who live in the other side of the world. Such advances attributes to  the intelligent inventors, but also our rapidly developed society. Thus even if ten thousands of  Steve Palu Jobs, one of the founder of Apple, live in the starving and dangerous society, it is yet hard to lead the fashion of high technics.
Consequently, based on the analysis mentioned above, I agree with the statement that mistakes could result in progress, however, I could not accept that it is the only way.