Are you a seasoned leader? Do you have plenty of experience in your tool belt that makes you feel like you have arrived or that you are set for life? Or are you a starting out leader that maybe feels like your disqualified for not having enough experience? Regardless of where you sit on this spectrum, does the amount of experience determine how well you will lead? Well, I propose there is a bit more to this.
Someone once said experience is not the best teacher, but evaluated experience is. As I have continued to grow in my leadership, I have found that statement to be true. One can mount up as much or as little experiences in their life, but if they don’t know how to evaluate what they have experienced, that’s all it will ever be. An experience.
What’s the big deal you might ask? You could have had some of the worst experiences in your life, but if you haven’t harnessed the power of reflecting and seeking to learn from them you are prone to experiencing them again. You are human and you are going to make mistakes and have failures, but that doesn’t make you a failure if you learn from them. John Maxwell has a great book called Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn. It’s a great reminder that you can always learn something, but you need to be intentional about it. On the other side of that coin, reflecting on great experiences can have a huge benefit for you. It will add to your strengths, help you establish great values, good habits, and a positive life. Simply put, you learn what to do and what not to do.
On another note, learning from other people’s experiences is one of the wisest things you can do. There are many people that have gone before you and you don’t need to go learn it for yourself. Nobody is self made so pick up what others have done well and leave the mistakes behind. Be someone who is not only aware of what works and what doesn’t work, but also the why behind it.
My desire in all of this is that you avoid becoming a person that is walking around talking about how crappy life was or all about the good old days. There is a good chance that life wasn’t as crappy as you say it was and the good old days are not as good as you say they were also. Now I’m not trying to take away anything from your past, that’s why I think its important to reflect and evaluate. We don’t want to get stuck in the past so that it stunts our growth or steals from our present and future.
Call me an optimist but the best is yet to come. If you are breathing today you have been given another day and the question is what are going to do with it? Let’s learn, let’s be grateful, let’s forgive, let it go and step into the potential you have today to become the best version of yourself.
Those evaluated experiences compounded over time will give you the opportunity to maximize your potential and maximize your impact. As I always say, we are not just here to lead, but to lead well.
Grow as you go!
Walter Perez – Founder/CEO – The Leader Co. Inc.