“We live in a circular world.” This saying speaks to us on multiple levels but for this article, it means that what goes around comes around. On a business level, if we experience a problem once, we will more than likely experience it again in the future and, when we do, we should be better equipped to handle the problem the second time around. In addition, we will have also lived through the ethical / moral consequences of the decisions we chose to make.
When we are young and are just beginning our professional journey, it is likely we might not know what to do with these important gems of wisdom. We must learn to rely on the natural truths that have led man-kind since the very beginning. As with all our problems, there is a natural law for experience and like most natural laws, it follows the Power of the Wisdom of Three. Once attained there are only Three Uses of Experience and these are taught to us through the School of Hard Knocks.
First, we must reflect on what we learned. It is said, “We do not fail; we either succeed or learn.” This is the basic truth as to why we get wiser with age. Sadly, if we pay no heed to this lesson, we will be doomed to repeat the past errors over and over again. This is where having an experienced mentor, who is also a Solutionary, can spring board your career ahead of your colleagues who have none. When you do not have your own experiences to reflect upon; the next best experiences can come from a trusted guide who has walked on the same path.
The second way we use experience is for us to adapt those past teachings to our current problems or to situations which might become a problem. Not every problem we encounter will be identical to the ones faced before. There will be subtle shades of difference but luckily the truths that we pick up through the ages will never change. Remember, all truths are eternal; the problems come in all shapes and sizes.
Finally, we must apply the lessons of life, along with the combination of our education and the morals/ethics we possess, as knowledge toward the solution to our problems or before they arise; to ward off future mistakes. No matter your level of education, you will face bad outcomes that will better prepare you for the future. Those experiences cannot be acquired solely by studying simulations, no matter how well they are crafted, established or delivered. Some unconceived consequences have a way of lingering under the surface for months or years after the decision was made. An excellent class professor teaching us the learning objectives of the course, has no way of knowing the depth of the knowledge that can only be uncovered by living the experiences. This is why knowledge applied without experience leaves the student naive. Many college students are quickly shocked into the reality when they try to solve the problems of their job using only their education. It becomes clear they have more to learn. It is also true that knowledge applied without education leaves you foolish and knowledge applied without ethics / morals leaves you gullible. It is only when we selflessly apply all three that we can be assured of a wise decision.
Many years ago, I coined this saying and it has proved to be very true. “I have been up; I have been down and I will be both again.”
Even knowing this in advance, we will each ask three important questions:
What controls the frequency between the peaks and valleys?
How do we affect the variance between the highs and lows?
What can elevate one’s trajectory over a lifetime?
The single answer to each is the same; make more wise decisions.
If this is my last post, I want all to know there was only one purpose for all that I have written; to have made a positive difference in the lives of others.
Anthony “Tony” Boquet, the author of “The Bloodline of Wisdom, The Awakening of a Modern Solutionary”