‘Experience’ is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted
If you haven’t yet taken the time to watch Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, stop reading, open a new browser, and watch it on YouTube. … Then come back here.
One of the remarks he makes is that “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.” Surely you’ve heard or said to another, “I didn’t enjoy xyz, but it was a good experience.” There’s a lot of truth to this - you ARE getting valuable experience in everything new you do (whether you enjoy it or not), and a collection of experiences good, bad, and ugly can take you much farther than just a collection of good experiences alone.
At the beginning of this millennium, I held a job for about three years that was chock full of, “No, I don’t like my job, but I’m learning a lot and it’s a great experience” moments. One day it finally dawned on me, the world has infinite possibilities of great (and lousy) experiences, but I have finite time on this earth. Yes I’m learning a lot, but is this the experience I want to invest my time into? The obvious answer was no, since even the good experiences weren’t appealing to me. I realized I needed to spend my time and energy on areas I care more passionately about. Ultimately I did find a new role and company, and five years later, I can say it was the absolute right move for me. I also can say that the experience I gained in the prior job has served me extremely well.
Experience is what it is, and you’re the only one who can decide if that which you’re accumulating is good or bad for you. Remember to focus your energy on YOUR big rocks – not someone else’s sand or pebbles.
Action Challenges: Value and appreciate all of the experiences you are collecting, but make sure that the lessons you are learning are the ones you want to learn.
1) Follow YOUR passions, and go get good and bad experiences THERE. If you dream of being a massage therapist, getting your accounting degree may not be the best use of your time. Yes – accounting is a great skill to know, and you WILL LEARN A LOT in the process. However, it doesn’t get you closer to your massage license, and unless that’s how you’re planning to pay the bills while you are getting your spa off the ground (i.e., a means to an end), it’s a waste of your time. If you hate numbers, it may be downright painful. Go to your happy massage place; I guarantee you, there will be *plenty* of bad experiences to get under your belt there too!!
2) As you accumulate “bad” experience along the way, make sure you’re learning something different from each one. There’s good to be found in each and every one, and remember that variety is key. Getting hit by the same stick over and over again, not only is one bad experience, but it’s the same bad experience over and over!! You can only learn so much from the same experience!!
Cheers and all my best to you!
~Brooxi
"I’m a big fan of ‘if what you’re doing hurts, stop doing it!’"
- Althea Martelino
If you’d like to know how Randy’s doing, he is tracking his final journey here.
© Stephanie Brooks 2008
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