Episode 42: Formula for Success - Step 4 & 5: Learn Repeat

Hello my friends, welcome to episode 42. I am thrilled you are joining me today. Today we are finishing off our September of success with the last two steps in this success formula.

Step 4: Learn.

Learning.

We have been learning since we were just tiny.

And will need to keep learning till we can’t anymore.

Learning is a skill that allows us to build off our failures.

Learning makes failures worthwhile.

How do we learn?

We have talked about doing post-mortems on situations.

Looking back.

Identifying the things that went well.

Identifying the things that need to be changed.

Seeing what you have control over and seeing what you don’t.

These are great tools to make the most of our failures.

And one key is actually taking the time to do them.

Getting honest about what happened.

Taking responsibility for it and making a plan for improvement.

But I think we sometimes get caught in a negative cycle, all in the “name of learning” and we need to watch for this.

Learning is not reliving the past. There are times we need to look at the little details and there are times when they are not important. Watch for where you might be reliving the failures, emotions, and all in your analysis of it instead of looking for the lessons and the opportunities.

Learning is not ruminating. Now you are familiar with ruminating. Our cows give a great example of how they chew their cuds. We don’t need to spend hours chewing over past failures. This cycle of spinning over things takes all our time but doesn’t help us grow from the experience.

Learning is not wishing the past was different. I hear this so much from myself and my clients. If only …. Learning from past experiences is not trying to change them. It is not trying to figure out exactly what we “should” have done.

And to go along with that, learning is not beating yourself up for something you did, said, didn’t do, or didn’t say. Remember the past is the past. It happened. Maybe it happened perfectly, Maybe it just happened.

But we can learn from it, and make plans for our future.

Learning is a great opportunity for growth.

We can reflect back on past actions and past decisions and we can learn more about ourselves, the way we think, and the way we view the world. With this awareness we can predict how we will react in the future, we can decide if that is how we want to react and we can make a plan to have the future we want.

Learning is trying new stuff. It is so easy to get stuck in old patterns. Old patterns of action. Old patterns of thought. When we learn, we don’t stay stagnant. We do things in a new way. We switch things up. We are willing to lose a little efficiency in the short term to see if we will find long-term gain.

Learning is being ok with things not going as planned. For us to discover new habits, we have to allow for the hiccups. We have to have the space and capacity for new technology, new struggles, and new options.

Learning is being open. So often I hear ideas that are brilliant but an individual or a co-worker or a boss is completely closed off to the idea. We don’t have the opportunity to learn unless we are open. We have to consider things we have never considered before. We have to try new things.

Learning makes our actions and our failures worthwhile.

Now the final step in our success formula is to Repeat.

Rinse and repeat. The shampoo has taught us well.

Each time we face a challenge or an opportunity.

We have to decide, try, fail, learn, and repeat.

Goals are seldom accomplished in one go around.

So often we get in a hurry. So often we just want to accomplish the thing!

But the process is where we will spend most of our time.

So let’s find a way to enjoy the process.

We will still have struggles when the goal is accomplished so it isn’t better there than here.

We still may want to go there but it’s ok if it takes whatever amount of time it takes.

Growth sometimes needs to be slow.

We sometimes need time to develop skills and abilities.

So let’s spend time in the process.

Let’s be willing to repeat this process as much as it takes to find the success we seek.

It will be fun.

Have a wonderful week.