When things happen, we wonder why. It does take a certain type of person to see the message in everything. The statement “everything happens for a reason” rings true to the person who understands that all elements of life are designed around learning. It is a never ending process, this crazy thing we call learning. If anything, you can always learn what not to try doing again. All types of learning both in and out of the classroom have a cost. The cost of a university education may have a direct monetary element, while learning a lesson on how to deal with a difficult person may cost some humbleness. Both sources of education still have a price. The learning we do in real life has something we can refer to as natural consequences. The natural consequences could be the things we learn from learning what we should or should not do, but continue to do the reverse. It is very difficult to walk the high path at all times. It is the little things we learn that we do not always practice which seems to have the biggest natural consequences. We may be in a small business meeting and hear about how someone sends out get-well cards every time one of their clients is sick. We think to ourselves how great of an idea, we may even write it down. Three months later we still have not done it. We learned something that would help us and never put it into use. What are the natural consequences for this? Who knows, you may see no direct impact, further deterring you from adding it to your work habits. Think of all the great ideas you learn about over the course of a month. Things you know would help you and make you grow your business or personal life. How much time passes where we do not put it to use? We may try things for a few days but it is consistent behaviors that show the mastery of the learning process. The funny little part of natural consequences is how they emerge. It may take months or years to see the consequence of a step or action you are taking. Patience and natural consequences are not often together. By the way….It is possible you may have reflected on the word consequences as a negative. Consequences by definition is only the effect of an action, it has no definitive good or bad notion. Wow, you just may have learned something in this blog you can put into action now. What are you going to today about it?
