Learning from our past

A time of change forces us to take decisions without knowing how things are going to turn out.

One way to get better at this is to learn from our past — and especially to learn from a time when things didn’t turn out the way we wanted.

To do this, think back to a time when you made a decision that didn’t turn out as you expected.

Then answer four questions:

1. What happened: What was the choice you made? What did you expect to happen? What actually happened?
2. What story did you tell yourself about that at the time: did you judge it as a ‘failure’ or a ‘should’? Did you blame yourself or others for what happened? If so, what other interpretations are possible?
3. What other actions could you have taken instead — to ignore, leave, fix, improve, or transform the situation? Or to learn from the situation?
4. And, knowing all this, would you make the same choice again? Or would you make a different choice?

To get the maximum benefit, answer these questions before you read on.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…