It’s been a long day.  You’re tired, hungry, maybe even frustrated by today’s events.  Maybe you had some successes and some failures.  Now that the day is over, did you learn anything from it?  Did you discover anything about yourself or your behavior today?  Do you expect to learn anything about yourself?  Do you review your failures and try to learn from them?

 The word ‘failure’ here may be a little strong.  By failures, I mean things that did not go as well as they could have like deadlines missed, late for work, missed meetings, phone calls not returned, bills not paid on time, yard work overdue, dishes in the sink for days, etc.  These items are not failures, but just areas where you could improve performance and perhaps your life.

Many of us say that we are going to improve our performance.  But what that usually means is that next time maybe I will work a little harder or maybe a little longer.  But why not review your ‘failures’ regularly?  Learn from your mistakes while they are still clear in your mind and you can ‘feel’ the pain they caused.

Personal improvement is a life-long journey – there is no destination.  You will never be perfect, so don’t even try.  But don’t let that lull you into a false sense that you are as good as your going to get.  Times change, society changes and what worked last week or last year, may not work this week or this year.  You need to be aware of the changes as they happen and change yourself in the process.  This calls for self awareness and a critical review of your own behavior.

Unless you have someone close to you whom you can trust and is willing to give you this feedback, how else are gong to know when the train (life!) has left the station without you?  Sadly, you won’t.  You will continue to ‘perform’ as you always have and then wonder why you were selected for the layoff or why your friends never call anymore.

It doesn’t have to be that way.  Take a critical look at yourself and see what you can learn. 

-         Joe Freeman