Focus on the learnings.

There is a heavy emphasis at work to focus on the key learnings from situations - whether the situations are positive or negative.

If something goes well, especially if it goes surprisingly well, the question to ask is "Why"? What are the key takeaways such that this can happen again. If something goes wrong, e.g. a process upset, a safety incident, an equipment breakdown, etc, while the response in the first instance is to fix the immediate problem, the thought process after the immediate problem is resolved is to ask the questions of why this occured, what are the key learnings, and how to avoid a repeat incident. The thinking is that no mistake should ever happen twice.

I'm going to try and make that a focus for 2011 - work and non-work. At work, it will be easier to do, as we have systems and procedures out of every incident to make sure learnings are captured and acted on. For non-work items, I will need to make an effort such that where possible, every time something goes wrong, try to direct the thinking to, "Why did this happen? What can I learn from this? What actions will I take to prevent a repeat incident?" It may seem like a bit of a mundane task, or perhaps even a bit excessive, but from what I have seen, it really is very valuable and ultimately can save a lot of additional work and heartache.

On a slight tangent, I feel like I'm learning a lot of really good skills from work which can be extended to everyday living - the focus on safety, the emphasis on meeting commitments, learning from incidents.

At the end of the day, it's to make things easier for everyone. There's enough uncontrollabes in the world. Might as well make what can be controlled easier, especially for the things that don't take too much effort.

No repeat mistakes in 2011.