Lessons From 2020
The year is about to end and as usual I’m looking back over it to identify what I’ve learned. Although it is easy to overrate some things and overlook others, I believe the most important lesson from 2020 is about learning to have the balls to be a learner. Through coaching clients, I’ve discovered that everyone is interesting in finding answers to their problems. Moreover, the answers most people are after predominantly entails moving forward in some area of life. However, finding answers to the bunch of questions we ask ourselves, often leads us to stop asking further questions. Thus, finding answers may distract us from continuing learning, developing our skills, further enhancing our personality and ultimately moving forward the way we all truly want. That’s not at all to say that finding answers is bad, but to point out the importance of improving our ability to ask more questions to further advance our understanding of what we’re truly capable of.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe” - Albert Einstein
I also learned that our mindset is the most important aspect of our personality, hence our lives. I have coached people who expected coaching to be about me presenting them an array of 5-step formulas to succeed in their marriage, career, family affairs and other areas of life. Finding out that this wasn’t the case, some took the easy way out frustrated and pissed off that they had lost time and money, while others understood that the only way forward is putting in 110% efforts day in and out, regardless of how hard it seems. For those formula-lovers, here’s one: life won’t give us what we need, only what we deserve. If we don’t plant the seeds of our success in the spring of opportunity, we will end up begging for a crumb in the fall. Furthermore, planting some seeds isn’t enough, we must take care of them, nurture them and water the crops so it can survive the heat and bugs of the summer. In other words, learning, planning and thinking is not enough to actually learn something, let alone get results. Knowledge must be applied regularly, as to be transformed it into a skillet so the rewards can be reaped later on.
“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover himself” - Galileo
Another very important lesson 2020 has taught me is that we’re never gonna be ready for the next challenge, no matter what. The upside is that we don’t have to be! We have to make a decision to trust in our ability to learn as we go along, to see criticism for what it is - an opportunity to get better - and most importantly, know that all criticism and judgements we receive are not about us, but about the insecurities of the person delivering them. Whoever criticises and judges the work of others are doing so because they’re afraid of doing it themselves and someone like them come along and say the very same stuff about what they’re doing. Toughen up! Receiving feedback is the only way forward, as long as upon receiving them we ask ourselves the question: what can I learn from it?
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen” - Michael Jordan
To conclude, 2021 has everything is needs to be the year we all close the gap from where we are to where we want to be. Perhaps, even the year that we get there. Knowing that the first step to doing something is to believe in ourselves is of utmost important. Our beliefs allow us to tap into our potential, which will determine the actions we put in to get us results. Guess what, the results will reinforce the beliefs we began with regardless of what they were. So we better believe in our ability to get back up when we get knocked out. We better believe that we’re not fragile creatures that need protection, but that we are tough, kind and loving motherfuckers who will take any criticism and judgement to thrust us forward. And most importantly, we better believe that we will succeed, that if we can’t see any other way upwards and forwards we will make one and that it is only a matter of time for us to get what we truly deserve.
“The great challenges of life appear to us when, and only when, we have everything to survive and heal from the experience” - Gregg Braden
