Exposure to Experience

There’s an old adage about life that goes like this. A young man asked his mentor how he achieved success. The old timer replied, “Good judgment.” The young man then asked how his mentor achieved good judgment to which the old timer answered, “Experience.” Not to be deterred the young man then queried, “Well, how do you get experience?” The old man answered, “Poor judgment!”  If you want to be a leader, then learn to live! In his book, Life Is Tremendous, Charlie Jones states that we are born with a psychological key ring and that every situation we are faced with gives us another key for the future. Every action I take, regardless of the results, gives me another key with which to open future doors. This had a powerful effect on me growing up. I understood that as long as I was learning and experiencing, I was moving forward. I was not one of those who knew early on in life what their driving passion was. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each of my previous jobs to include the one I’m in right now. But that doesn’t mean that in five years I might not find a different calling that becomes the new driver in my life. Every person I interact with, every decision I make, every job I take, every book I read, gives me another key. Maybe it’s the key to a door I never wish to go through again, or maybe it’s a key to a door that brought me much success. Either way, it is a key to life and learning. Grow your experience bag. Make it a priority! Just as you work out to grow your level of physical fitness or study to increase your IQ, go full steam ahead to expose yourself to as many different experiences as possible. The result is an incredible self awareness and confidence that you can handle any situation or variation which comes your way. Do I like making poor decisions and mistakes? No! And for many years I relentlessly beat myself up for my errors. But when I realized the experience and wisdom that I now had was actually enabling me to make good judgments, I stopped kicking myself in the behind. Charlie “Tremendous” Jones stated “Know-how is tremendous when you know-why; know-how lets you drive it, knowing-why drives you.” The more keys of experience I have to unlock life’s situations, the more I’ll know not only what I’m doing, but why. And that’s the most tremendous form of judgment in the world.