A Lesson in Learning

Seems sort of funny to have a lesson in learning, doesn’t it?  And yet, that’s exactly what I’ve just experienced.  You see, I’m a big proponent of learning:  learning from what life throws my way, learning from others, learning in every opportunity and every moment.  I think that’s essentially the point of life:  that we live and learn and grow and through that process become all of who we are.

One of the challenges in this learning process, particularly the “learning from life experiences” deal, is the way in which I can take things personally and then focus not on the inherent learning, but on defending whatever my belief or action is.  What I’m now realizing is that everytime I take something personally and then defend myself, it’s actually a brilliant way to divert myself from the real lesson in the situation, whatever it is.

Here’s an example:  I recently sent out a survey to my subscriber base, looking for feedback on the recent promotion of my podcast series.  In reviewing the responses to date, I saw that one of the surveys was completed by a colleague of mine, who essentially said that she doesn’t see the value in my product.  This felt like a stab in the heart of my work, and despite the fact that it’s the only survey with that particular response, my focus went to defending (to myself) my work, my actions, my product, etc;.  Here I had asked for feedback, received it, and rather than asking myself how and what I might learn from it, I went into defense-mode.  Interesting, I thought.

So now, I’m going to take a break, and then ask myself what merit is in her viewpoint and what I might learn from it.  Without taking this at all personally, how might I actually use the feedback to stay on track, rather than get diverted by defending myself?  This is the lesson for me at this moment.  It’s a good one, I think.

Bottom-line:  when I allow myself to get pulled into defense-mode, I lose the opportunity to learn.  So now it’s time to stay present to the learning.  How do you keep yourself present to the learning?