Liberate yourself from yesterday.
There is nothing to hang on to–even what you learn today is temporary, specific to where you are right now.
This is probably the hardest lesson, for me. I’ve spent a lot of time in my career, in school, in my own research–creating solutions and solving problems. And I look back on that as “tangible work.”
But is it?
Some of it is tangible.
What I learned about business intelligence remains foundational, there is a certain permanence in that. But the approach to solving problems is different from what it was ten years ago. For example, the climate I operated in, the sponsors I had, the expertise I had–all met the very specific problems of the time.
What I learned in graduate school about decision making and later about how we get better about what we do, all rest on how self-aware we are at any given time.
Time is what makes things temporal.
When I do yoga, when I used to run, or when I engage in something physical I notice inconsistencies more. The fact that I didn’t get enough sleep, drink enough water, or focus enough displays itself immediately in my results. One day I can perform something perfectly, another day I can’t accomplish any of it.
Consistency comes with practice, presence, and lightness.
So it’s important to learn well by “learning lightly.” What you accomplished today is relevant to today’s tally, to today’s lesson. We can try to take what we can and bring it forward. And, we can also look at today as the blank slate it is, to try again.