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Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential
Issue 5.15 - April 14, 2008 - ISSN: 1551-6571

In Kevin's Own Words

Improve Your Tomorrows By Asking One Question Today

If you are a parent of school-aged children (or have ever been a school-aged child), I would bet you have asked or heard this question every single day: "What did you learn in school today?" And when those same children roll their eyes or say “oh Mom!” those same parents persist; asking a follow up question like, "You know you learned something - you were there all day, c'mon, what did you learn?"

After some prying and cajoling, the children answer with some morsel or lesson learned during the day. The kids are relieved, and the parents are happy. This scene plays out in cars and homes all over the world, and yet this question that seems so obvious to parents seems to escape our thoughts for ourselves.

The modified question you could ask yourself every day is: "What did I learn today?"

Why This Question Works

Parents ask school children about what they learned at school because they expect them to learn at school. But somehow after graduation, people stop thinking about learning as their daily task. And yet, human beings are learning beings. Our bodies and brains are constantly learning.

If you are constantly learning you might wonder why you need to ask this question at all (and that is a good question itself!).

While you are constantly learning, the things you are learning are subconscious and therefore not necessarily accessible to your conscious mind. Also, the things you are learning by just going through your day may not be the things you most want to learn. So, by asking the question, you are making your learning more conscious and intentional.

As you ask it more frequently, you will begin to see your daily experiences as learning opportunities and those things you most want to learn and improve will become clearer.

How This Question Works

As you begin to think of life as your own personal learning laboratory, you can expect ideas, lessons and discoveries each day. The question plays to that expectancy.

What did I learn today?

When you ask yourself this question, you are expecting that there is learning to recall! When you create the habit of asking, you begin to create a habit of looking for the things you are learning. And, as you expectantly look, you will most certainly find lessons and learnings.

Where This Questions Works

This question works in every part of your life!

Consider asking the question to help you learn:

• In your personal life
• In your professional life
• As a team member
• As a leader
• In pursuit of a specific goal

Based on your needs you may choose to ask the generic question about your entire day, to focus on one of these areas specifically (i.e. what did I learn today to make me a better parent, or what did I learn today to make me a better salesperson), or to ask the question multiple times, once for each important role or learning goal that you have.

However you choose to apply this question to your life, the power will come from asking it consistently.

Your Comments: Please visit Kevin's Blog to leave your comments on this article.

Potential Pointer: To reach your potential in any area of your life, you must become a more consistent, continual and intentional learner. The best habit to help you achieve this goal is to ask yourself "What did I learn today?" every day.

Kevin

Kevin's Recommends

Lessons From Great Lives
By Sterling Sill and Dan McCormick

This book authored by Sterling Sill was originally published in 1981 but has long been out of print. Entrepreneur and speaker Dan McCormick credits Lessons From Great Lives as one of the most influential in his life, so he arranged to have it republished with some additional material.

The book’s premise is that there are lessons to be learned from the lives of others – especially the lives of people who made a difference in the world around them. It attempts to distill lessons from 19 such people into a short and easy to read tome.

It is hard to argue with the people selected. They include da Vinci, Emerson, Lincoln, Gandhi, Churchill, Socrates, Napoleon and many more. (It is always a good sign when people can be identified by just one name!). It’s even harder to argue with the premise.

The book reads a bit like drinking from a fire hose – there is so much information and so many lessons written rapid fire that it made me tired. So, I slowed down my reading approach. This is not a book to read on a short plane flight, but rather one to savor, reading a few pages or one biography at a time to allow some of the lessons to soak in, and the ideas and connections you will gain to emerge.

Regardless of your approach to reading it, the lessons that can be gleaned from these great lives are amazing – and for that reason Lessons From Great Lives is worth reading and considering how to apply in your life.

Learn more and purchase at Amazon.com.

Your Comments: Please visit Kevin's Blog to leave your comments on this article.

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