Peter Bregman a strategic advisor to CEOs and their leadership teams wrote in the Harvard Business Review that most of us get smarter as we get older. But somehow, despite that, we often make the same mistakes ay home and work. On the flip side, but no less comforting, we often do many things right and then fail to repeat them. He believes it’s because we rarely take the time to pause, breathe, and think about what’s working and what’s not.
Mr. Breman says that people should look at their past behavior, figure out what worked, and repeat it while admitting honestly what didn’t and change it. He theorizes that if a person can do that well, everything else takes care of itself. That’s how people become life-long learners.
Five minutes to become a life-long learner
The article says it only takes about five minutes to become a life-long learner. Life-long learners take a brief pause at the end of the day to consider what worked and what didn’t.
Mr. Bregman proposes that every day, before leaving the office, save a few minutes to think about what just happened. Look at your calendar and compare what actually happened, the meetings you attended, the work you got done, the conversations you had, the people with whom you interacted, even the breaks you took, with your plan for what you wanted to have happened. Then ask yourself three sets of questions:
- How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure?
- What did I learn today? About myself? About others? What do I plan to do — differently or the same — tomorrow?
- Who did I interact with? Anyone, I need to update? Thank? Ask a question? Share feedback?
Maintaining and growing relationships
This last set of questions is invaluable in terms of maintaining and growing relationships. It takes just a few short minutes to shoot off an email — or three — to share your appreciation for a kindness someone extended, to ask someone a question, or to keep someone in the loop on a project.
If we don’t pause to think about it, we are apt to overlook these kinds of communications. And we often do. But in a world where we depend on others to achieve anything in life, they are essential.
Related articles
- Personal Productivity in 18 Minutes (forbes.com)
- HBR: Restore Yourself to Your Factory Default Settings (leadershipstudy.wordpress.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.