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How many times in your life have undertaken something only to stumble and learn a valuable lesson? I’m betting that you often see these as failures, and perhaps make platitudes about being a great learning experience but deep down you feel as though it was nine parts frustration and embarrassment and one part lesson.
The value of learning that lesson, albeit possibly painful at the time was immeasurable and likely enabled you to turn that experience into something worthwhile and valuable over time, maybe not on a conscious level, but more likely deep within your brain.
This cycle of learning life’s lessons is never ending, but sometimes we find ourselves repeating these prior lessons, maybe because they weren’t painful enough at the time or we were too self absorbed to really internalize the lessons and take them on board at an intellectual level. However, to be able to do that you need a foundation of self-awareness and emotional intelligence, coupled with a solid dose of empathy and pragmatism. This powerful cocktail often comes with maturity and time.
The important lesson is that even though you may float through life seemingly unscathed or perhaps lurching from one issue or disaster to the next, it’s not about the actual events or things to happen to you so much as how you deal with each situation that allows you to grow as individual, or not, as the case may be.
Here are three simple reminders to help you set a solid foundation for personal success:
Indelible Tip #1: Giving yourself permission - I know for me personally its important to allow myself some mental space and take a little time to reflect on specific situations, thus enabling me to take a virtual step backwards and reflect on the outcome that I'd like to see or that had transpired, and whether it met with my expectations along with what I might do differently next time. Strangely it’s about giving yourself permission to take this time…sounds sorta flakey – right? (Yes, that’s your outside voice btw) :-)
I guess what I’m trying to say is that many people may scoff at taking a time out to reflect as a waste of time and declare that the most important thing to do is continue to push forward no matter what. This is what I refer to as the "just do it" crowd - fantastic for Nike but not so great for you...without an anchor, framework or mental model it all becomes academic and theoretical. Lots of action, but without direction or a plan is often a master lesson in frustration.
I find that taking time to reflect helps me clear my head but more importantly enables me to re-wire or re-architect a different set of actions for the future. This enables me to keep focused and evolve as I realize my dreams.
Indelible Tip #2: Decisive Clearly its one thing to reflect but entirely another to actually do something about it in a concerted way. Taking action because of your reflection and planning allows you to take control and dictate your own path forward, on your terms.
Feeling stuck in life? Nothing gets you unstuck faster than taking decisive action on your plan!
Personally I like to write sticky notes to myself, so that I’m constantly reinforcing what I want in my life and the things that are most important to focus on. These are NOT long-winded objectives, or paragraphs of notes... Nope these are what I call trigger words. My stickies are all hand written and strategically placed so that I see them multiple times per day. This constant reinforcement is my way of rewiring my brain, and keeps me focused on what I want to achieve.
Indelible Tip #3: Seeking Inspiration Another thing I’ve learned about myself over the years is that as a writer, photographer and speaker I’m constantly seeking inspiration. This comes in many forms, often an image, sometimes the written word or perhaps a conversation with someone who brings out the passion in me. I find inspiration in the smallest, and sometimes most inconsequential things, for example discovering something ignored but in plain sight, or the way the air feels on a fall morning…yes it can be anything.
More often than not though it’s something simple, and often not even the “thing” per see but more importantly what it evokes in me that inspires me, or makes me smile in awe. Fortunately for me, a great source of my inspiration comes from when I have my camera with me and I'm just wandering and exploring. The tougher part for me is often in the slowing down part and not rushing to find my next little nugget of inspiration...yes, lesson learned!
However, I must tell you that I was truly inspired earlier this week over a dinner conversation I had with my almost 18 year old son as he explored an idea he had for school about developing an "Entrepreneurs Society". Seriously I wanted to bottle that conversation, I loved how animated he became and how engaged in the process of ideation but more importantly articulating what action he was going to take, clearly he had been thinking about this concept for sometime and it was awesome to take part. Very motivating!
So now what? Are you ready to try something new - no time like the present...what are you waiting for?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hanoi Posting” A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis
Come visit "Hanoi Posting" at its new home! New episodes this week...
This week's photos are from our fantastic trip to Ireland for Canadian Thanksgiving.
Enjoy!
TW
Facebook - Google+ - Twitter - Instagram - LinkedIn - ImageBrief - National Geographic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The value of learning that lesson, albeit possibly painful at the time was immeasurable and likely enabled you to turn that experience into something worthwhile and valuable over time, maybe not on a conscious level, but more likely deep within your brain.
This cycle of learning life’s lessons is never ending, but sometimes we find ourselves repeating these prior lessons, maybe because they weren’t painful enough at the time or we were too self absorbed to really internalize the lessons and take them on board at an intellectual level. However, to be able to do that you need a foundation of self-awareness and emotional intelligence, coupled with a solid dose of empathy and pragmatism. This powerful cocktail often comes with maturity and time.
The important lesson is that even though you may float through life seemingly unscathed or perhaps lurching from one issue or disaster to the next, it’s not about the actual events or things to happen to you so much as how you deal with each situation that allows you to grow as individual, or not, as the case may be.
Here are three simple reminders to help you set a solid foundation for personal success:
Indelible Tip #1: Giving yourself permission - I know for me personally its important to allow myself some mental space and take a little time to reflect on specific situations, thus enabling me to take a virtual step backwards and reflect on the outcome that I'd like to see or that had transpired, and whether it met with my expectations along with what I might do differently next time. Strangely it’s about giving yourself permission to take this time…sounds sorta flakey – right? (Yes, that’s your outside voice btw) :-)
I guess what I’m trying to say is that many people may scoff at taking a time out to reflect as a waste of time and declare that the most important thing to do is continue to push forward no matter what. This is what I refer to as the "just do it" crowd - fantastic for Nike but not so great for you...without an anchor, framework or mental model it all becomes academic and theoretical. Lots of action, but without direction or a plan is often a master lesson in frustration.
I find that taking time to reflect helps me clear my head but more importantly enables me to re-wire or re-architect a different set of actions for the future. This enables me to keep focused and evolve as I realize my dreams.
Indelible Tip #2: Decisive Clearly its one thing to reflect but entirely another to actually do something about it in a concerted way. Taking action because of your reflection and planning allows you to take control and dictate your own path forward, on your terms.
Feeling stuck in life? Nothing gets you unstuck faster than taking decisive action on your plan!
Personally I like to write sticky notes to myself, so that I’m constantly reinforcing what I want in my life and the things that are most important to focus on. These are NOT long-winded objectives, or paragraphs of notes... Nope these are what I call trigger words. My stickies are all hand written and strategically placed so that I see them multiple times per day. This constant reinforcement is my way of rewiring my brain, and keeps me focused on what I want to achieve.
Indelible Tip #3: Seeking Inspiration Another thing I’ve learned about myself over the years is that as a writer, photographer and speaker I’m constantly seeking inspiration. This comes in many forms, often an image, sometimes the written word or perhaps a conversation with someone who brings out the passion in me. I find inspiration in the smallest, and sometimes most inconsequential things, for example discovering something ignored but in plain sight, or the way the air feels on a fall morning…yes it can be anything.
More often than not though it’s something simple, and often not even the “thing” per see but more importantly what it evokes in me that inspires me, or makes me smile in awe. Fortunately for me, a great source of my inspiration comes from when I have my camera with me and I'm just wandering and exploring. The tougher part for me is often in the slowing down part and not rushing to find my next little nugget of inspiration...yes, lesson learned!
However, I must tell you that I was truly inspired earlier this week over a dinner conversation I had with my almost 18 year old son as he explored an idea he had for school about developing an "Entrepreneurs Society". Seriously I wanted to bottle that conversation, I loved how animated he became and how engaged in the process of ideation but more importantly articulating what action he was going to take, clearly he had been thinking about this concept for sometime and it was awesome to take part. Very motivating!
So now what? Are you ready to try something new - no time like the present...what are you waiting for?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hanoi Posting” A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis
Come visit "Hanoi Posting" at its new home! New episodes this week...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's photos are from our fantastic trip to Ireland for Canadian Thanksgiving.
Enjoy!
TW
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| I found this shell found on the beach at Laytown, about 60km north of Dublin on the Irish Sea. |
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| Visiting the Titanic Quarter in Belfast |
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| This is the slipway where the Titanic was built, you can see the outline of the ship and how huge it was in the markings on the ground. |
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| One of the few original lifeboats used only once and now on display at the Titanic Museum in Belfast |
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| The Titanic Museum - this was the size of the actual bow of the Titanic, absolutely enormous... |
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| The Harland and Wolfe Shipyards adjacent to the museum in Belfast and the original builders of the Titanic |
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| Loved the contrast of colors and shapes - the harbour in Ballintoy |
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| The rugged coastline of Northern Ireland - rock pools at low tide in Ballintoy |
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| Yes they filmed some episodes of Season 2 of Game of Thrones in Ballintoy |
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| Not sure if this boat was in this state before or after Game of Thrones came to Ballintoy :-) |
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| Seriously the coastline was more like you'd expect to see in the Mediterranean than on the North Sea |
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| The rope bridge at Carrick-a-rede and now a National Trust site - it swung a lot as we walked over it... Very Indiana Jones! |
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| You can see why this part of the coastline was a haven for smugglers and pirates - lots of caves that you could sail a boat into |
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