This weeks letter is going to be all about learning from your past. What is your opinion about this topic? Do you have any interesting examples you’d feel comfortable sharing?
Let me know in the comments or reply to this email.
I agree that most people seem not to reflect on their past to learn new ideas and ways to go forward. I'm sure I'm one of them—we can never learn enough from our past and those of the people we're closest to. We all repeat patterns learned from our parents and childhood. It's important to understand the difference between the good and not so good patterns, though. Journaling, setting monthly intentions in writing help me to be more aware of how (or if) I've moved my life forward.
I think it's critical to learn from our past but my observation is that most people don't actually take the time to reflect and review their experiences. I think they assume we just naturally learn from our experiences - but that's not a given. Currently, I work with a couple people who have 25 years experience and one who has 1 year of experience 25 times. It's like he stopped learning once he thought he'd figured it all out - and now he's bitter because everyone else has passed him by. The others actually learn and grow, especially from their mistakes.
For the past couple of years, I've been setting aside time to formally reflect and review. I have long term goals that I review and reflect upon annually, and then I do a review/reflect session quarterly to check my progress and learn from what's gone wrong (and something has always gone wrong - or at least less than perfect). Finally, I do a monthly review/reflect to select upcoming tasks and set priorities, then review/reflect each week to monitor progress and determine if I'm on track.
All of my review/reflect sessions include trying to figure out actual lessons I can learn. One of the things I learned early in my career is that I don't have to be the smartest person in the room. Instead, I focus on learning to help the smartest person in the room communicate their ideas better to everyone else. The super-smart (but awkward) person generally appreciates the help, I learn a lot very quickly, and other people tend to remember me because I communicated a complex idea so clearly. All because I reviewed and reflected on my experiences.
I know most people will never be as formal and consistent as I try to be but I really think setting aside a little time to review/reflect can be extremely helpful for everyone. I look forward to seeing how you tackle the topic.
I agree that most people seem not to reflect on their past to learn new ideas and ways to go forward. I'm sure I'm one of them—we can never learn enough from our past and those of the people we're closest to. We all repeat patterns learned from our parents and childhood. It's important to understand the difference between the good and not so good patterns, though. Journaling, setting monthly intentions in writing help me to be more aware of how (or if) I've moved my life forward.
I think it's critical to learn from our past but my observation is that most people don't actually take the time to reflect and review their experiences. I think they assume we just naturally learn from our experiences - but that's not a given. Currently, I work with a couple people who have 25 years experience and one who has 1 year of experience 25 times. It's like he stopped learning once he thought he'd figured it all out - and now he's bitter because everyone else has passed him by. The others actually learn and grow, especially from their mistakes.
For the past couple of years, I've been setting aside time to formally reflect and review. I have long term goals that I review and reflect upon annually, and then I do a review/reflect session quarterly to check my progress and learn from what's gone wrong (and something has always gone wrong - or at least less than perfect). Finally, I do a monthly review/reflect to select upcoming tasks and set priorities, then review/reflect each week to monitor progress and determine if I'm on track.
All of my review/reflect sessions include trying to figure out actual lessons I can learn. One of the things I learned early in my career is that I don't have to be the smartest person in the room. Instead, I focus on learning to help the smartest person in the room communicate their ideas better to everyone else. The super-smart (but awkward) person generally appreciates the help, I learn a lot very quickly, and other people tend to remember me because I communicated a complex idea so clearly. All because I reviewed and reflected on my experiences.
I know most people will never be as formal and consistent as I try to be but I really think setting aside a little time to review/reflect can be extremely helpful for everyone. I look forward to seeing how you tackle the topic.