Neglecting To Learn

I work with a lot of people helping them to improve their consistency, performance, and the quality of their choices… and there’s one part to the process that people overlook more than the rest. They’re great at being accountable to answering honestly to how things went, but when things don’t go according to plan, they neglect to learn from it.

The reason this is important is because what manifests into your reality doesn't happen randomly or by accident. It’s an output of the design and factors that preceded it. It’s cause and effect. So when people don’t follow through on a commitment or enforce a standard they have for themselves, and leave it at that, they have no better of an understanding for what caused the lapse in performance. 

In a moment there’s a lot that influences us unconsciously in our environment. We’re not even aware of how different factors are pulling us in different directions and impacting the likelihood of our behavior. When we pause to understand what was happening behind the scenes, and learn more about the conditions that caused whatever happened, we make the unconscious conscious.

It’s a form of diagnosis and the process of completing it is very simple: You ask the question “Why” enough times until you get to the heart of it.

For example, I had a client who didn’t make great choices in his diet and because he’s accountable, he knew it. He reflected on what happened and realized it’s because he was traveling. That’s helpful awareness - to know that when he’s traveling he’s less likely to make an unhealthy choice.

Should he want to, he could go a layer further and ask “Why?” again. Perhaps it’s because the shortest line at the airport was pizza. Maybe it was because he had to clear out his fridge and ate some unhealthy leftovers. Another step of diagnosis presents a deeper understanding for what caused it. With each step you learn more.

The challenging part is, shortcomings or lapses in performance can make you feel emotional. You get embarrassed or self-critical about it. This makes looking at your choices that much harder to do. And when you don’t, you neglect to learn and increase the chances you’ll make the same mistake again.

So do not neglect to learn! If you’re curious to see my personal system for reflecting on my choices, and accelerating my growth when I fall short, then check out this video I made where I walk you through it. It could be the missing piece to your masterpiece of a life!