This post is one of a series we’re doing on wellbeing in September.
In Wednesday’s post, I explained the techniques we’re applying to build resilience and emotional control in these testing times. Three of those techniques were (1) the importance of learning new things, (2) showing gratitude and (3) celebrating small wins to create a more positive and productive mindset.
In today’s Fulfilling Friday session, we learned about how all three of these concepts co-exist in the foundation of happiness and mindfulness.
Oftentimes, lessons are learned through necessity; for instance, having to help out on a complex project or needing to upskill to solve a problem. Other times, new knowledge is proactively acquired – because those with a growth mindset know that curiosity and a yearning for learning can lead to an increased ability to handle stressful situations.
Too often, however, this learning becomes subconscious or at least quickly forgotten. We forget how or why we learned these new skills and just accept them as part of our inherent arsenal.
The key downside of this is that we are not giving ourselves due credit;
we are missing a golden opportunity to celebrate a win, and thus robbing
ourselves of the endorphins, dopamine and serotonin which so
effectively enrich our confidence levels, motivation, happiness and sense of
self.
That’s why, in today’s session, our team is celebrating the small lessons each of us have learned over the week – no matter how big or small – over a round of delicious and detoxifying snacks and mint tea.
In a business sense, being consciously aware of these lessons – whether
it’s nailing a completely new skill or figuring out a better way of doing
things – is a key principle of project management and improvement in process
efficiency. This is especially true with lessons learned ‘the hard way’.
Because, as they say, “making a mistake
is human, hiding a mistake is a crime and repeating the same mistake is a sin”.
Here are a few tips on how we
can effectively acknowledge – and more importantly use – these lessons in the workplace:
- Identify and
collect lessons learned. Focus on how
it was learned: What went right, what went wrong and what to improve moving
forward.
- Document and
share these lessons learned with the team. Open up to transparent
discussion and feedback – positive or constructive – and encourage team members
to build on your learnings with a growth mindset.
- Analyse and apply. Focus on how these lessons can be further applied to business projects to improve the quality and efficiency of deliverables, and action as necessary.
