experience

It is amazing how we all learn. As we grow and mature we learn things, physically and mentally that mold us into the people we are today. What I find most amazing though is how we stop learning.

It is mostly a why. When we are young we try things, if they succeed we keep doing them and we get better, if we fail, we try something different or we try a different way. At a certain age we stop this trial and error process. It is almost as if we think we are too sophisticated for it.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result."

An old swim coach said this to me. He would also ask me if the wall I was slamming my head into still hurt. The point is this...be aware of what you are doing. Wake up and take a second. Clear your mind and listen to your trustees.

Then ask yourself, is there a different way to do this. The most successful learning processes that I have are when I talk to other coaches or managers about what they do. I then try really hard to see their point of view and why they are doing it. I feel as if I cannot learn something from every coach, I am being closed minded.

We have to open our minds and hearts to the possibility that there are other ways to do things, not only because it will make us nicer people, but because we will probably learn from it.

So take a second and look at what you have always done. Does it work or is it smooth or has it failed or created friction?

There are other ways to do things and often they lead to a different result.