Of all the things from which we learn the most, experience is our greatest of teachers!  There are few times a lesson will make an impression to last a lifetime unless one has experienced that lesson being handed to them on a silver platter. The thing is, what you choose to do with each delicious serving is what makes the difference.  Great leaders know this.

I guess you could say that life is like a series of meals!   Sometimes we’re served fast food, sometimes we have to hunt for food and sometimes we’re offered gourmet cuisine that sets our mouths watering and our hearts longing to savour every glorious tasty morsel passing across our hungry taste buds. Why do I liken experiential lessons to food?  Because our reactions to both are quite similar!

Have you ever been watching a fantastic movie with a bowl of popcorn at your side only to become suddenly aware the popcorn bowl is empty and you can’t recall having eaten any?  That’s right; you managed to shovel a whole bowl of popcorn down your throat while your focus was elsewhere.  When we’re not focused on what’s heading down the oesophageal passageway, we disregard that sustenance without even remembering we’ve chewed and swallowed.

As with the popcorn, the delicious life lessons served us are changed by our focus.  Sadly, focus is often based on what we DON’T have rather than what is being served and we completely miss lessons carefully baked within the enchanting recipe.  We notice the serving doesn’t meet our expectation and we might even lament bitterly on the lack of care in which it is served.  As we age, reality eventually teaches us that life hands us a lot of stuff, we are served challenges, struggles, loss and heartache.  We are also served love, compassion, strength, honesty and friendship.

Each of these ‘servings’ is designed to shape and fashion us into the remarkable human being we are meant to become.  The secret is in learning from those lessons and ensuring our focus is based upon what some call the “silver lining”.  I like to call it the Buried Gift Within, mainly because it’s not always easy to find!  Each and every experience tossed into our path or handed our way, (no matter how difficult, heartbreaking or painful), has a gift buried within.

Some might argue about there being a hidden gift, but hindsight tells me my direction and my place in life is shaped and formed into ‘me’ by each experience and my reaction to those experiences.  I also want you to know that life isn’t always easy.  I share personal experiences with clients when I feel it applicable to presenting a different way of thinking, and they will tell you – I’ve had some tough moments just like everyone else; moments tough to chew and harder to swallow.  The true secret is what I learned from each moment.

I don’t want life handing me a bowl of popcorn I carelessly shove down my throat without recollection of having tasted it!  I want to become passionately aware of each morsel and flavour, the salt butter and corn all melded together combined with a smell permeating the room such that popcorn in a bowl becomes an experience, otherwise why waste my time eating it?

That which we focus on, we intensify!  I have suffered loss and there is always something to come from that loss, be it a lesson left, a behaviour changed or a gift of another’s experience from which I can draw.  All great leaders understand this focus.

Exceptional leaders know how to look for the Buried Gift Within.  With employees, balance sheets, personal strife, company changes, family challenges, and much more.  Exceptional leaders savour and taste every single morsel and then experience the lesson bringing it forward into many more situations.  What makes them exceptional is they share those lessons with others and, most importantly, they model and teach others how to discover the Buried Gift Within!

Strategic Sense is a Leadership Development, Plans of Action and Facilitation organization who’s mission is to change the world for leaders and their employees everywhere.  We believe each individual comes with their own unique talents and skills that can be enhanced and utilized to help them become the very best leaders only they can be.

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