10 Lessons Learned from my life so far
I love a podcast!
Not just listening to them but, even better for me is, being a guest on a podcast to share my story, form connections, sharpen my thinking and generally learn new things.
On average I manage to guest on at least one podcast a week and this can often be one of the highlights of the week for me.
During the last 3 years I have been on quite a range of podcasts (about 75 and counting so far); some that have been more of an interview about my start-up story, others concentrating on my specialisms of strategy, emotional intelligence and focus (or IQ, EQ and FQ) and some that have been much more unique than that.
Recently I was on a podcast that was not only excellent to be a guest on but the preparation for the podcast alone was such a powerful reflection exercise that it had me deliberating for weeks and I encourage you to do a similar exercise if you can.
The podcast is called 10 Lessons Learned and the format is simple.
Each week, one guest shares the 10 most influential lessons they have learned over the course of their life and the background or story to each lesson.
When I initially sat down to prepare for my interview (they ask to have the list of 10 lessons at least 2 weeks before), I thought I might struggle to find 10 appropriate lessons.
Actually the reverse was true, as I quickly compiled a list of over 30 powerful lessons I had been fortunate/unfortunate to have experienced.
The challenge became to whittle down all this wisdom and sharpen the stories that sat behind them.
Over the course of that week, I refined and revisited each lesson, making sure that it was powerful and interesting. I must have walked around my flat recounting each tale a dozen times and bored my friends down the pub with them (incidentally you can never practice these things enough).
So come the day of recording I was ready…
My 10 Lessons
Bear in mind that each of my lessons is probably a blog post in itself, below is simply a headline & summary of the story itself to whet your appetite for either the podcast or for future blogs where I’ll unpack each lesson.
For now here is the list:
- Lesson 1. Run towards the wrecking ball — this is a powerful lesson about stepping outside your comfort zone and actively seeking pain, discomfort and challenge
- Lesson 2. Don’t be sucked into the headlights — this lesson is all about how our minds can wander if left to their own devices and being intentional with your focus is so important
- Lesson 3. The platinum rule is better than the golden rule — forget what you were told as a kid; to be truly successful you need to meet the expectations of others not the other way round
- Lesson 4. What kind of learner are you? — if you’re not embracing active learning then you are forgetting 70% of what you learned the day before so knowing how you learn best is vital
- Lesson 5. What is the problem you are trying to solve? — not being clear on what your objective is can lead to a waste of time, not to mention getting you the wrong outcomes
- Lesson 6. What are your 3 adjectives? — all of us can be (and are) described in 3 adjectives; if you don’t know yours yet, go find them out pronto and learn to embrace them
- Lesson 7. Pre-decide and don’t half decide — so much focus and effort is lost to incomplete decisions and deliberations; by adopting a pre-decision approach, and no half decisions, your life will be better
- Lesson 8. Would you use your genie in a bottle? — if you want to know whether something is so bad that you can’t get through it then apply this technique of reframing and suddenly things won’t seem so bad
- Lesson 9. Who is your tribe? — without a tribe or community, life will be infinitely harder so the sooner you find your tribe and invest in it, the better things will be
- Lesson 10. It’s about the things you do, not the things you don’t — too many of us fixate on what we don’t have (FOMO and envy are big drivers of this) but once you look past this and relish what you have achieved you are suddenly liberated
Conclusion
There you go! You have my 43 years of wisdom summarised in a blog post, aren’t you very lucky ;)
Do with it what you will but I encourage you to listen to the podcast if you haven’t heard it yet. In fact, listen to some of the other podcasts that I have recorded too.
I’d love to hear from all of you about my 10 Lessons Learned or, even better, what your lessons might be; so go on, drop me a line…
Faris is the CEO and Founder of Shiageto Consulting, an innovative consultancy that helps firms and individuals sharpen their effectiveness.
Success = IQ x EQ x FQ
