HISTORICAL GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

"It is the soothing thing about history that it does repeat itself."

Gertrude Stein, late 19th/early 20th century American novelist

Soothing because it clearly shows that which others had to live through to learn, often the hard way.

Those who come later don't; all they need do is learn from the history of others gone before them.

However there is a catch.

You have to take the time to learn and apply what you learn to your today and tomorrow.

YOU CANNOT FAKE AND . . .

"You cannot create experience. You must undergo it."

Albert Camus, 20th century French philosopher

And when you have undergone it you can and should learn from it.

Sadly, many never do.

SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

"The years teach much which the days never know."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century American essayist/lecturer/poet.

A lot of small almost imperceptible incremental change often adds up to significant major change.

Pay attention to today, you might just see tomorrow.

WHEN YOU CHOOSE, CHOOSE WISELY

"Predominant opinions are generally the opinions of the generation that is vanishing."

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) British politician and author.

So, assuming you're part of a generation that will be around for awhile, what do you make of this?

Good the soon to be gone generation will soon be gone, or what can you learn from those left before they are all gone?

Your answer says much about your intelligence, or lack thereof.

SOMETHING YOU MAY NOT KNOW

"It is what we learn, after we think we know it all, that counts."

Unknown.

I don't know that I understood this the day I graduated college. 

Maybe I thought my education ended that day.

But if either were true that was irrefutable evidence of how little I actually did know; how much I still did, still do, have to learn.

You don't have to go to college, but if you do, don't let it get in the way of your education.

LEARNED FROM; NEVER (RARELY) TO BE REPEATED AGAIN

"Experience is the name we give to our mistakes."

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet/dramatist.

I'll accept that but only for those mistakes we attempt to correct.

The rest don't deserve the positive implication of being referred to as experience.

SEEING WHAT'S NEXT BY LOOKING AT WHAT WAS

"You must pre-live the future... not re-live the past... and savor the moment."

Unknown

Ok, but don't assume re-living the past to be the same as learning from the past; they are not the same.

Learning from past failures and successes will better prepare you for more of the latter, less of the former in the future.

AS WITH LIFE AND LEMONS . . .

"She had an unequalled gift... of squeezing big mistakes into small opportunities."

Henry James (1843-1916) American author

At the core of many mistakes, possibly all, is the seed of future success.

Embrace your mistakes, learn from them.

LEARN FROM MISTAKES YOU NEED NOT REPEAT

"People will not look forward to posterity who will not look backward to their ancestors."

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) British political writer

And to their own histories.

Paraphrasing philosopher George Santayana, those who do not know their own past are condemned to repeat it.

WHAT WAS, NOT IS OR WILL BE

"Study the past if you would divine the future."

Confucius (BC 551-BC 479) Chinese philosopher

He said "study", not "live in".

Learn from the past, it has much to teach you, but what has been will not necessarily be.

NOW THAT YOU'RE DOWN YOU CAN BETTER APPRECIATE UP

"Who has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet."

German proverb

While I'd prefer not to have to experience every failure in order to achieve success, I do get the point.

Particularly in business where learning from failure is an important, almost mandatory, component of achieving success.

PAY ATTENTION; THEY HAVE A LOT TO TEACH, YOU HAVE A LOT TO LEARN

"Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but religiously follows the new."

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American naturalist, poet/philosopher

In every aspect of life, including business.

If you are just beginning your career, do yourself a favor and pay attention to those further along in theirs.

You might be surprised concerning how much they can teach you.

TO MOVE FORWARD LEARN FROM LOOKING BACKWARD

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward."

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish philosopher/writer

But living it forward will be much easier the more you understand backwards.

SOME BUT NOT ALL OF WHAT YOU KNOW

"Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time."

Chinese proverb

Graham Nash told us, "Teach your children well", however that doesn't mean all or only what you know.

Substitute "employees" for "children" and the thought applies equally as well.

LEARNING FROM THAT WHICH IS NO MORE

"The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living."

Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-43 BC) Writer/politician/Roman orator

Maybe for people but unfortunately not for companies.

There is much to learn from those who failed in business where you wish to succeed.

Are you learning from their demise?

I (HOPEFULLY) WON'T DO THAT AGAIN

"Only by acceptance of the past, can you alter it."

T. S. Eliot

Late 19th/early 20th century American-English poet/playwright

All too often the problem is more not remembering/learning from the past than it is failure to accept it, but this is good advice when that is not the case.

IF WE COULD ONLY GO BACK?

"I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards."

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States

Learn from the past, don't attempt to revisit, or worse, return to it.

MY GREATEST TRIUMPHS ARE OFTEN MY MISTAKES

"A man's errors are his portals of discovery."

James Joyce

Late 19th/early 20th century Irish author

Only if we learn from them.

Celebrate your successes but value your failures as much for what they teach you.

NO WE DON'T

"We have to hate our immediate predecessors to get free of their authority."

D. H. Lawrence

20th century English writer

No!

And if we do we will lose the benefit of what they have to teach us.

Each generation can and should learn from those gone before and after them.

What Was Doesn't Have To Be

"All of us who are worth anything spend our manhood unlearning the follies or expiating the mistakes of our youth."

Percy Bysshe Shelley

19th century English poet

That you learned "follies" is a given as is that you've made "mistakes".

What isn't a given is what you will do about it.

It's never too late to change.