Lessons Ready To Be Learned

A post-mortem meeting is a valuable business practice that allows a team to pause, look back, learn some lessons, and get ready for the next project. But have you ever thought of using this tool by yourself? Why not?

We often jump from one thing to another, reacting to the needs that the world puts in front of us, rushing, multitasking, over and over again. Stopping for a while and looing back can make our life easier going forward. Here is how to do it:

1. Set the goal.
   The goal should always be to learn something. Have your mind open to lessons that may appear as you are looking back at what you’ve done. If you set a specific goal (like “Let’s see why I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to?”), you’ll limit yourself into gathering evidence, reasons, or data, which won’t let you learn much of anything else. So, be really open to unexpected lessons.
2. Set the scope.
   What is it that you are actually going to looking at? Maybe you’ve just finished something (job, semester, presentation to your team). But maybe you are in the middle of looking for a job, transitioning to another position, or you’ve just celebrated the 1st anniversary in the new company. Set a specific timeline you are going to look at and the focus area.
3. Create a collection of questions.
   Try to avoid “Why” questions. These tend to trigger our defenses. Instead ask “What” and “How” questions, like: What went well? What didn’t go well? What helped me? What wasn’t helpful? What were the obstacles? How did I deal with them? What did I learn about myself (about others, about anything)? How can I use the lessons learned in the future?
4. Answer the questions fully.
   This exercise is just for you, so skip the fluff and go to places you might not be willing to share with others. Be super proud of your accomplishments, congratulate yourself. It builds you confidence for whatever you want to do next. And instead of blaming yourself and feeling guilty, look at what you can learn. Maybe the lesson is that you missed support of others, that you lost your motivation in the middle, or that you didn’t know how big the task really was.
5. Wrap it up.
   No matter where you are with your focus area, create a closure. Is it over? Even if it’s not, wrap it up as if it was a sequel to be continued. What’s done is done and you can focus on the next part. Maybe it’s time to change the goal or tweak your approach. And maybe it’s time to just cut your losses and say good-bye.

Just like Tony Robbins, I also believe in results. Maybe your results are not what you wanted them to be, but they are still results, so stop calling them failures. Take a look at them and learn from them. The lessons are yours and they will make you stronger.