Pain + Reflection = Progress
Just like with skateboarding, we fall over and over again until we get it just right. That feeling when you land after all the pain is running through your body makes it all worth it. It is through our most painful moments that we learn the most. Rather than avoid the pain, we must learn how to use it to better ourselves. Every time we make a mistake, we must reflect on the pain that is felt from making that mistake so we can avoid those same mistakes again and again. Spend time to understand where the mistake came from and identify the root cause. We embrace tough love and don’t avoid confronting problems – especially the ones that reveal some weakness or shortcoming in ourselves. After reflecting on our mistakes and problems, take action to make the adjustments needed to fix them. We all recognize that the biggest threat to making good decisions and avoiding mistakes is our ego blind spots and the unconscious emotions that keep us from seeing them. We are human and mistakes are natural. It is ok to make mistakes, it is unacceptable not to learn from them.
