I’m adamant about testing what we think we’ve learned because sometimes our successes are just dumb luck. And we also tend to forget (or ignore) the fact that correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation. That’s why it’s so easy to learn the wrong lessons from success.
Hell, that’s why athletes and their fans have so many strange superstitions. Lucky socks. Lucky happy dance. Lucky beer and hot wings! Whatever. They wore something or did something weird or ate a certain food… and then they experienced some huge win… so now they attribute that success to the clothing or ritual or food or whatever and they repeat the behavior to help ensure wins in the future.
It’s easy to spot these superstitions in athletes and their fans but similar things can happen in business too. People learn the wrong lessons from their successes; they don’t validate what they think they learned; and then they end up doing things that either don’t matter or that actually makes things more difficult.
Doing weird, seemingly unnecessary things might be fine for athletes because it can help put them in the right frame of mind to focus and win... but business isn’t quite the same. Weird, unnecessary stuff in business is called WASTE and it needs to be eliminated, not continued.
Listen to this episode of The Relaxed Leader podcast to learn a process to review and reflect in a way that will help you learn the right lessons from your experiences.
Episode 13: Don't Dwell on the Past