The Boy Who Cried "Wolf"

We've been talking for the past couple of days about learning from our mistakes and making improvements. I want to wrap up this mini-series with a strong word of warning.

AVOID BEING THE BOY WHO CRIED "WOLF!".

You remember the fable about the boy who got his kicks out of scaring the community by crying "WOLF!"? Eventually a wolf really did come around and when he yelled, nobody believed him.

How does that apply to us? Well, we say we're going to learn from our mistakes. And we say to our partner "I'll change." And then we do change...for a while...then we fall back into the same old pattern that got her upset to begin with.

Eventually there's another argument, and we promise to change again. And so on...and so on...and...so...on. Until one day, she's had enough of the stupid cycle. And by the time we really see the light (usually at the point when she's emotionally gone) it's often too late. But we tell her again..."I'll change." But the words are empty. Your track record has ruined your reputation.

So here's the point. If you say you're going to change, be like Nike. Just Do It.
Broken promises break relationships.

Stay in touch -

Mark

From Every Mistake We Must Surely Be Learning

Great words from George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

Great lesson too. I think one of the keys to learning from mistakes, is that we not only learn from our mistakes, but we also learn from the mistakes of others.

Let's start with the basics. What can we learn from Tiger Woods? Right, 18 holes in one day is plenty. Keep your balls out of the rough. Got it.
Seriously though, we can learn that infidelity will destroy you. Do you think anything about Tiger's life will ever be the same? His family is destroyed. His reputation is shot. Even his career has taken a significant hit.
Virtually every aspect of his life has been impacted by his actions. Not to mention the devastating impact on his wife and children.

What can we learn from our best friends or neighbors, who we just heard are getting a divorce? They had a "perfect" marriage didn't they? Clearly not. What went wrong? Complaincency? Boredom? Drifted apart? Infidelity? Instead of peering over the fence to snoop for gossip, why not learn the details and make sure the same thing isn't happening on your side of the fence?

What can we learn from ourselves? What have we done to upset, irritate or disappoint our partner? What really grinds her gears? How have we let her down in the past? Let's take those mistakes and turn them into something positive, by making sure they never happen again. Change our patterns by developing a mindset that says "I don't ever want to let her down again."

This is hard work guys. This is serious stuff. It takes commitment. Let's not blow it.

Stay in touch -

Mark

PS - please pass this link along to anyone you think may be interested. And as always, feel free to leave a comment or story.