"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were
to live forever.” Gandhi
Everyday is a process of learning, just ask a parent of an infant- both of them are constantly learning! Yet we often ignore the life lessons
in our quest for making a living. What we have learned along the way would help
us tremendously but too often we compartmentalize our lives, telling ourselves
that real learning happens in the classroom or that we can't learn from an experience. Nothing could be farther from the
truth. Most of us just don't have a system or a structure to apply the lessons
to.
A new organizational trend is to have a "Lessons
Learned" section or cell within a company to track what went well and
should be repeated; and what went poorly and should be avoided. Some people
already have a system like this, usually called parents, siblings or in-laws who
remind you of how things went horribly wrong or encourage you to remember your
successes. However trusting external people to count your successes and
failings is not particularly reliable.
You should be keeping track of the lessons you have learned in
your life. Some may be humorous "If it smells bad it probably is not good
to eat." but others may be lessons that come out of pain, rejection or
misunderstandings. In many cases it is the lessons that come from loss that we
learn too well and usually incorporate that change our behaviour.
One of the best ways to learn the lesson is to keep a learning
journal where you make notes about items that you have learned or wish to
learn. Write it rather than keeping it in an electronic form. There is something
very soothing about seeing your own wise counsel in your own hand. I have a hot pink leather journal that only contains
things that I have learned. It is one of my favourite books to flip through as
I see the learning journeys but also quotes from books and speeches that I found inspirational.
The next time you have a job interview you don't get, read a
fabulous article, connect with a character in a novel or have a run in with a
co-worker write down what you learned from the experience. Life is all about learning;
sadly many of us miss the lessons.
No one lacks life lessons; wisdom comes from having the courage
to learn from them.
Sara Rylott
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