10 Great Life Lessons To Learn From Experiences

“In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson” – Tom Bodett

It is true that we can never learn a lesson in mind. We need to get down and dirty with reality. We have let ourselves free and wild. Only then will we learn lessons in life that curve for us the course we need to take to move forward. It’s said that one can never learn a lesson without hitting rock bottom. At the rock bottom lies the cheat-sheet to life.

What holds us back is fear. We are never willing to lose, we are looking forward to winning our life but only a few of us have taken back the lessons from our failures. We wish to abandon our experience of failure but the failure teaches us the most. The key is to embrace our failures and learn to use it to our advantage. Failure is not about giving up, it’s about working your way up to the top with renewed motivation to win.

What are some of the crucial lessons that life teaches us?

“People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves” – Paulo Coelho

Get ready to unfurl some of the biggest lessons we learn in our lives:

1. There are a few things we do because we love to do it.

We invest effort, time and passion in those tasks. Then there come activities which we have to do because it’s our duty, our responsibility. The key here is to balance them out. All of us are earning money to sustain our life, but if you find no fervor in the work you do, you still have beat the monotony and go to work each day only to earn money. But if you can balance your hobbies out with work you will be able to bring more meaning to your life. Life runs smoother when health, family, work, play, and friends are kept well-balanced.

2. Paralysis by analysis

“Paralysis by analysis” is the state of over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome. These might have often happened to you in times when you have constantly analyzed a situation to weigh its pros and cons before making a decision and that has led you to lose an opportunity. If you want to achieve important milestones in life, you need to step out of your comfort zone. Take risks and make it worthwhile.

3. Self-fulfilling prophecy

“Self-fulfilling prophecy” is defined as a socio-psychological phenomenon of someone “predicting” or expecting something, and this “prediction” or expectation comes true simply because one believes it will, and their resulting behaviors align to fulfill those beliefs. It is your outlook towards your life that makes a huge difference in the outcomes of your life. If you have an optimistic attitude towards life, you have higher chances of winning at life, because your actions and behavior will align with your thoughts and beliefs.

4. Positive self-talk

“Positive self-talk” can help us sustain, recognize and promote joy, hope, and fulfillment in our life. How? When we fill our thoughts with positive self-talk we provide ourselves the motivation to move forward in life. Positive self-talk like “I can do this once I try.”, “I have the capacity to achieve more than this.” and “My life is better than most people out there.” When negative self-talk is replaced by meaningful positive self-talk, you will get the extra strength to conquer life.

5. Do not seek the approval of others.

Does it matter to you, whether or not other people approve of your actions, decisions, and words? Other people will function on their own decisions based on their own value system. Their value system might not align with your values and ideals. Therefore, your life decisions are exclusively your own and do not depend on what other people think of them. It’s your life. Living in on terms of other people just to be validated and appreciated by them is utter foolishness.

6. Self-awareness

The lesson is to be self-aware and know your needs, wants and passions. Surround yourself with people who encourage and accept your individualism rather than promoting their ideas to you. When you keep yourself in a positive encouraging environment, you will be able to channelize your energy on self-growth. Stay away from people who are self-boasting in nature and talk bad about other people at their backs. There is a high chance that these people also talk bad at your back.