This Tip raises the question of whether you are missing the opportunity to make the most of your mistakes.
I’m a true believer in things happening for a reason. Not in the way where I just “cop things on the chin” and believe that my life can’t be changed, no, but I believe that the world has a funny way of teaching us lessons, and that there is something to learn from every experience, every day. But not everyone is open to seeing these opportunities for growth and using them to their advantage.
Have you reflected on your lessons from 2014?
Not every lesson will have been the result of a positive experience (in fact, most of our best lessons come from negative experiences). But in the larger scope of things, isn’t it a positive thing to live through 100 tough experiences, learn 100 new things about yourself and how NOT to do things in future, than to not experience or grow at all?
Most people too often get caught up on the situation itself, rather than being open to the valuable lesson that generally stares you right in the face during the days or sometimes weeks following. People are so quick to cover themselves in a quilt of ‘victim mentality’, that they miss out on the opportunity to gain something amazing from it.
Or, in a lot of other cases, people completely shut off from letting themselves experience anything because they are too afraid of what could possibly go wrong. Never taking risks or making decisions, never putting themselves ‘out there’, avoiding communication, living a self-suppressed life…Now, isn’t that sad? They’re stunting their own growth!
I’ve found myself looking back on 2014, reflecting on the things I did, the things I didn’t get around to doing, the goals that I achieved, the amazing new friendships formed, and those that I decided, unfortunately, no longer deserved a place in my life. It’s safe to say that I learnt A LOT about myself last year! I have grown into a totally different person than I was this time twelve months ago.
So, I want you to ask yourself… in the first week of 2015, have you spent any time reflecting? Have you spent more time thinking about how tough 2014 was or how tough it is being back at your desk, rather than focusing your energy on the positive outcomes that have been a result of those hard and trying times? What lessons did you learn last year?
This also got me thinking, does your business ever take the time to look back, appreciate how far you have come as a team and reflect on the valuable lessons that you’ve learnt along the way? Is this a part of your thought process when planning for the year ahead? How will these lessons affect the decisions you make in your business this year?
My advice? Don’t spend another year doing the same old things, getting the same old results. Turn your mistakes and lessons from last year into gold. In the wise words of Thomas Jefferson “if you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done before”.