Had Your Butt Kicked Lately?

Actor Tom Hanks once said, “You learn more from getting your butt kicked than from getting it kissed.”

There’s a lotta wisdom in that. In fact, if you’ll take a moment to suffer through a little pain—thinking about the butt kicking—you might learn a few lessons that not only would prevent future derriere drubbings, but could change a direction in your life that might lead to incredible success.

Here’s how you do it … Look back at your life—work or personal—and find a situation in which you got your seat spanked, in which you failed.

Now, run through a few questions:

– Why did it happen?

– Can you point to what you did that prompted the butt kicking?

– What could you have done differently?

So, did you learn a lesson from the experience and start doing things differently, or are you still doing things the same way? If you’re doing them the same way … why?

– Was what you did a mistake that wasn’t so great that it forced you to change?

– Was it an ingrained habit?

– (Here’s one we too often overlook) Was it a habit from which you get enough pleasure that you don’t mind the occasional butt kicking?

Let’s say you recognize the mistake … what next?

Try these three steps:

1. Accept the slip-up and, if necessary, apologize.

2. Create a simple plan to do things differently, in a way that has a higher potential for success. Very often, it doesn’t mean a dramatic change—it may only take a slight adjustment in direction.

3. Make the change. And (this is the most important part) reward yourself for taking the new step. Rewards encourage us to make the new step a habit.

Getting your butt kicked is rarely a pleasant experience. Why continue it?