Tag Archives: Experience

Pause. Detach. Observe. Reflect. Learn.

November 19, 2020 By in Leadership Tags: , , Leave a comment

“Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. My god, do you learn.”

C. S. Lewis

One of the most profound things I have learned over the past few years is that you don’t have to wait until something one is experiencing becomes “history” before you can learn from it.

We are all capable of detaching ourselves from the moment and observing in a non-emotional and rational manner. The experience might indeed be a brutal teacher, but if we can teach ourselves to learn “in the moment” instead of waiting for hindsight, we will be much better off.

Learning to pause, detach, observe, reflect, and learn might the most important skills you ever develop.

Quicksand…

July 21, 2019 By in Leadership Tags: , , , ,

“The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.”

Jean Paul

How is it that you only start to really understand the value of life and time when you have gained some experiences and taken a few knocks? As the sand in our hourglass slides past are we focused on maximizing the value of each grain? Or are we lost because we are focusing on the next big thing that may or may not be important at all?

Don’t let a single grain of sand slip through unappreciated and unvalued. This is our one and only life. Why would you waste any of it?

Mistakes as investments…

July 16, 2019 By in Leadership Tags: , , Leave a comment

“Mistakes increase your experience and experiences decrease your mistakes. If you learn from your mistakes then others learn from your success.” 

Anonymous

Perhaps we should view mistakes from a debits, credits and investments perspective. For example, you get a $1 for each mistake you make. But if you repeat the mistake you have to pay back $10. However, if you learn from the mistake and turn it into a win you get $20.

I wonder how we might manage our mistake debits/credit and investment account if we thought of mistakes in this way?

Translating mistakes into experiences…

April 20, 2019 By in Leadership Tags: , , , Leave a comment


“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.”

Oscar Wilde

Did you make mistakes yesterday? I know that I did. I make plenty each and every day, we all do. The thing that I find missing in this quote is “reflection.” Reflection is what allows one to review their mistakes and translate those into experiences that you then learn from. A daily habit of answering three simple questions is the key to ensuring that when you make mistakes, and we all know that we will, that you can learn and grow from them. The questions that I use are:

  • What didn’t go well today?
  • What did I learn from this?
  • How will I adapt my behavior in the future to learn and grow?

There are lots of other questions, find the ones that work for you, but do it regularly so you can translate mistakes into experiences that you can then grow from.

Losing stokes the fire of winners…

February 16, 2019 By in Leadership Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

“Success is a lousy teacher.  It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”

Bill Gates

I don’t like to lose. Heck, no one likes to lose. Losing isn’t fun, pretty or enjoyable. Losing sucks. Period. However, nothing stokes the fire of determination and focus like a loss. Nothing teaches a more powerful lesson than losing, if you choose to learn. That’s the key right, you have to choose to learn. You have to accept the loss, and your part in it, so that you can you learn and build on it so you can win the next time.

I would strongly argue that losing is more important to growth and development than winning. Losing is the platform that wins are built from. If you don’t know how to lose, how can you learn to win?

We must work as hard as we can to win and build success. When the losses come, and they will, then we have to embrace the suck, figure out why, and get up and try again.

Will I ever enjoy losing? Absolutely not. I hate losing with a passion. But do I appreciate every loss I have ever had? Damn right. Those losses, and the scars that they created, are the burning fire that powers all future successes. Losing is going to happen to all of us. Being a loser is a choice that we individually make….

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dusty

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