What the bleep was that?
That’s the question I asked myself when I drove home after I resigned from my two and half month’s corporate outing.
Ok, I’ll admit. I used a different word than bleep.
When I reflect on my year 2021, the decision to join and then leave are probably my most significant lessons for this year.
I haven’t had regrets for a single minute that I made both decisions.
They provided significant learning, good conversation, and stories to write about.
With today’s insight about learning, I’ve come to the end of my ten stories journey, highlighting each growth cue in my playbook.
‘Learn’ is growth cue number 10.
In the past two ‘cue’ stories (#8 Show-up and #9 Focus), I wrote a lot about the importance of every single day.
It’s so easy to let a day go to waste and believe you will do better tomorrow.
But if you don’t have a rhythm (I love that word more than routine or process) for yourself, you will repeat the same mistake again tomorrow.
It’s not a coincidence that the ‘habit’ trend is booming, especially right now.
It’s not a coincidence because, at the same moment, we’re more distracted than ever.
Phone and social media addiction are rising, and we have no clue yet about its long-term impact.
But I can tell you one thing: it’s not going to be pretty.
Psychologists will have good business for years to come.
And the world will become even more polarized.
Unfortunately.
That’s why it’s so important to pause (growth cue no. 1) every single day and reflect on your progress.
Here are a few questions you may ask yourself at the end of each day.
- Did I make progress today (growth)?
- Did I accomplish what I set out to accomplish (achievement)?
- What new ideas do I have (creativity)?
- What am I grateful for (gratitude)?
- What did I learn (reflection)?
- Was I kind to people?
It’s proven that people, who have the discipline to finish their day strong and make time to reflect, are overall more effective and happier than those who don’t.
To them, learning is a daily habit.
To me, learning is one of the most precious privileges we have in life.
So, what did you learn in 2021?
Or should I ask, “what the bleep was that?”
I hope you get my point. We have big lessons, and then we have the lessons from every day.
When you create a rhythm to learn every single day, the big lessons become less painful.
Because you’ve practiced your growth mindset, and you know how to deal with them.
But, like in my case, we should never be surprised if a big lesson shows.
And learn from it.
I cherish my two and half months return to corporate life because it confirmed one big lesson to me once again.
When you don’t love what you do, you need to make a change in your life. Don’t stay where you are and become miserable.
Life really, really, really is too short to waste your time.
Learn from 2021. Find out what you love to do in 2022. Or continue to do what you love and do it even better.
Every single day.
So, in the evening, every evening, you can tell yourself you made progress, you learned, and because of that, tomorrow will be an even better day.
Let me end with the sentence I started with, knowing you’ll understand the intention.
Your turn: what the bleep was that?
Happy Holidays! Do more of what makes you happy!
Erikjan
PS. My personal growth webinar will now take place on Thursday the 20th of January at 2 pm CET. The sign-up link will be posted next week.
NB. This is the tenth publication in a series of ten connected to the 10 cues in my playbook “MIND.SET.GROW. – 10 life-changing cues for success and significance”.