a textbook. Nothing was scribbled out or written over. It was perfect. Richard was also bored out of his mind, because he was in possession of the sterile truth. He knew how everything was supposed to turn out, so he didn’t need to follow the road to discovery. He took the shortcut and got no real satisfaction out of it.
David’s chemistry notebook, on the other hand, was a disaster. There were scribbles all over the place, stains from experiments gone wrong, and questions written up and down the margins. David was having the time of his life! He was gobbling up the messy fruits of newly acquired knowledge, and he learned more through his mistakes than his triumphs.
Think about this: if you come to the correct answer right away, that’s it. You’re done. You deprive yourself of the learning process. It’s like skipping to the back of a mystery novel to find out whodunit. Would you like to live your life like Richard, bored but correct? Or would you rather emulate David, a student who struggles but thrives in the search for knowledge?
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Don’t ever stop learning. You don’t want to hurry to get that lifetime diploma, because when it’s handed over to you, you’re done with this journey. Grab up every opportunity you have to get another degree. Double and triple major. The wonderful thing about the lessons you learn in life is that they’re free. You’re not going to have a big lifetime student loan to pay off when you die. Take advantage of the complimentary education that is offered to you every day in a variety of ways.
Your assignment is to keep a notebook close by throughout the day and jot down every new thing you learn. It doesn’t matter how insignificant it seems, write it down. At the end of the day, you should have pages and pages of new information. If you don’t, then it’s time to adjust your habits.
What can you do to ensure that you are continually learning? One great exercise is to practice your sense of wonder. Stop assuming you know the answers to everything that is important and start wondering about the things you don’t know. Did you ever wonder who makes the first pot of coffee in the break room at work? Find out. Are you curious about your carbon footprint? Do you even know what that is? Learn more about it today. Would you like to know more about your teenage son’s favorite band? This one could be scary, but open up your mind and be willing to receive a music lesson from your child. Don’t blow your opportunities to learn. Look for them. Practice a sense of wonder.
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Forgiveness is yet another important ingredient for success. It sounds like a pretty easy task to take care of, but it is actually one of the hardest elements of success to put into practice. The next few days are going to be dedicated to the power of forgiveness and how it will help you achieve your dreams.
Your assignment for Day 271 is to make a list of the injuries that have been done to you. What were some of the biggest wrongs that you have experienced personally in your life? Write down the event; the person, place, or thing that caused the injury; and what happened as a result of it. Try to find injustices from your past that may have become roadblocks on your journey toward success. Those are the ones you want to deal with first.
Injuries can come from any part of your past. Maybe a kid in class made fun of your nose when you were in junior high school, and you have been embarrassed about your looks ever since. There are also physical injuries like abuse from a parent, spouse, or another person. An injury could also come from something that seems insignificant in the larger scheme of life, but it still bothers you personally. For instance, if one of your colleagues took credit for your idea at a meeting, it might provide irritation in the workplace and block you from continuing to give 100 percent to your job.
Write down these injuries, and when you are done, take some time to journal about how each one of them made you feel. This is the initial step toward forgiveness.
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