The single biggest difference between an amateur and a professional in any field is practice. There will be times that we run into something that we haven't been exposed to before.
Naturally, we're all going to make mistakes. As far as I'm aware, there is no way to live a mistake free life. You might not know what to look or listen for the first time, but you need to make sure you don't make the same mistakes over and over again.
Two of the most powerful words in our professional vocabulary are "Lesson Learned."
Where you can really start changing things about your life is by simply paying attention to your experiences. When something hurts, tell yourself, "Hey, that hurt! I don't want do do that again."
When we were little kids, we learned really quickly. If we stuck our hand on a stove, we never did it again! We typically learned pretty quickly that when the stove's hot, we shouldn't touch it.
As adults, we typically don't learn that quickly any longer. What we need to do is figure out some way that we can learn faster.
Some of the tools you can look at include:
- Journaling
- Pre-briefing
- Debriefing
- Coaching
The goal is to figure out how you can make the lessons stick so the next time you won't have to make the same mistake. You want to find yourself saying, "Hey, this is kind of like that time..."
Then you won't make the same mistakes again!
