The School of Hard Knocks

Daily Inspiration

By John H. Sklare, Ed.D, Lifescript Personal Coach

How good are you at learning those important lessons we all get from the school of hard knocks that we call life? I ask that question because discovering what works for you and against you is a critical part of gaining wisdom. And, since nobody can escape this inevitable aspect of life, I know that you have all had your own personal experiences with finding things out the hard way. However, as I always say, the only thing worse than making a mistake is making a mistake and not learning anything from it. And learning from our mistakes is the focus of my message today.

Learning is an interesting, yet complicated endeavor for us humans. It’s also idiosyncratic because people tend to learn things in different ways and, as a result, react differently to various forms of teaching. Years ago I used to teach learning theory to college students. In academia, your ability to learn and then answer questions about what you’ve learned is the key to progressing and getting good grades. One thing that I learned as a teacher was that the method used for recalling information often dictated how well certain students performed on tests.