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The cycle of action & learning
This section is about learning from what happened, when you did what you just did.
Here we are exploiting the power of the feedback loop. In other words, by being very sensitive to how the world responds to your actions, you are able to tune what you do more and more finely.
When we come to feel differently, we act differently. This may go both ways. In action, we learn – and as we learn, feelings are transformed.
How can you be sure that your actions are your own? How do you know that the judgments on which they are founded have not been fed into you by your parents, your peers, your partner, your staff, advertisers or the media?
The answers to these questions are found by developing a rhythm of action-and-learning, tuning each new action on the basis of what just happened.
Of each small new action step, ask these questions:
- Is it do-able?
- Is it will-do-able?
- Is it review-able?
- Is it celebrate-able?
That is:
- Is it practicable?
- Will you in fact do it?
- Is it clear and specific? – with no room for doubt, whether it has been done or not?
- Will you be glad you did it? – no matter how it works out?
And further:
- What is the timescale?
- How are you going to follow up?
So you do something, and you learn something. The next action is more fine-tuned, and the learning more powerful.
You keep track of your actions; and watch carefully what happens. This is an ongoing process of feedback looping, which works consistently to re-shape your life as a whole.
The rhythm of action-and-learning generates the reality of your freedom.
Next: Getting things done