I often ask myself, “What did I learn” after going through various life experiences. It seems that the harder lessons are the ones that really make me stop and ponder, “What was the lesson here?”
On Monday there was a lot of discussion around Cam Newton’s bad attitude at the post-Superbowl press conference. Yes, it sucks to lose. Especially when you are ultra-competitive and there is so much at stake. Although he wasn’t being self-reflective in that press conference, he may be forced to be self-reflective now and my opinion is, the mess he’s reflecting on is a much more important one. Not, the mess of losing the Superbowl but the mess and sadness of how he dealt with that loss. In my opinion, that’s a much more important place to reflect.
As we watch someone go through an experience like Cam did, it teaches us too. Maybe it reminds us of a time where we behaved badly. Most of us don’t have a perfect behavior record. Have we behaved that same way at some point in our life? Most of us have been terribly disappointed by an outcome in our lives. How did we handle it? What would we do it differently today? What lessons can we learn about ourselves watching his behavior?
There are lessons and growth in the positive experiences too. I recently went through an exhaustive process for a company. I was excited about the opportunity and threw myself into the assignment. When I finished my work and submitted it to them, I immediately had a huge sense of accomplishment. I realized that whether I am awarded the opportunity or not, almost didn’t even matter. Of course it would be thrilling to be told “yes” for all my hard work but what I found out about myself was even more exciting. I truly felt like a new person from what I learned about myself and I felt capable of so much more. If that’s what I learned from the process, that’s invaluable!
Life throws lessons at us all the time. It’s our choice if we want to pay attention. It’s our choice if we want to hold an attitude of self-awareness. It’s our choice if we want to keep an open mind towards our own growth and learning. You can pay attention and learn the lesson or you can be forced to repeat the class.
Your choice.
You can find more about Brendon Burchard here.
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