Are Learning All the Lessons the World is Teaching?

It seems that most of the people in the world are not taking advantage of the learning lessons that they could have everyday. The main difference between the Rich, the Wealthy, the Sports Champions and the rest of the world, is the ability and willingness to fail, learn from that failure and immediately improve.

Most people don't want to try something that they might fail at, because that is what they were taught in school or by their parents. "Mistakes and bad." The reality is that there is a lot more to learn from a mistake or failure, then from a success. The main reason why the only 5% of the population holds 95% of the wealth and money in the world is that 5% are willing to fail as many times as it takes, to learn the lessons and then create success.

Thomas Edison failed thousands of times to create a working light bulb. Each failure taught him something and got him a little closer to creating one that works, and the rest is history. Henry Ford and his team failed for years to create and engine block with eight cylinders in a V configuration. After they learned all the lessons they needed to, proper process to create a V-8 engine block was relieved.

The key to learning for your failures, and even how to improve upon your successes, is the de-brief process. After any event, positive or negative, if you and your team stop and reflect on what really happened, that is when the true learning begins.

After the event, first ask your self and/or your team, "What Happened", so that every body is on the same page.

Next, "What worked"? Even if the event was a complete failure, there was probably at least one thing that worked.

Next "What did not work?" This is where you can identify what the true learning lesson should be.

Next "What did you learn?" This is where you get to identify how the lesson applies and what you will do different next time.

Next and finally "What did you learn about your self?" This helps make you more conscious of how you are reacting to this type of situation and how to react better next time.

This process can take a few minutes, or it can take hours. The point is that a failure is only truly a loss, if you don't choice the learn the lesson it provides. One of the secretes of highly successful people is that they choose to fail faster and learn faster.