FEBRUARY 9 • TRUE LEADERSHIP • EPISODE 40
Growth on Steroids: Learning from Pain 
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5
Every major growth has come from a painful experience. It gets locked into our heart. The pain sears it into our mind and we want to move on as fast as possible. But don’t move on until you have learned deeply from the pain. You paid an awful price for that experience so get your money’s worth. Here are some of mine. The pain of —
• broken relationships
• financial loss
• lack of experience
• bad health
• foolish actions or irresponsibility
• making the same mistakes over again
So how do you learn from the pain? Build a System!
• Seize the cost of the experience. Growth is optional so embrace it! Things are less painful as we look back on them — the worry gets taken out. Sit down and write down what the painful aspect was and detail what your takeaways should be, e.g., don’t grab dogs by their ears, etc. (Some serious and deep pains require counseling or therapy — get help for those.)
• Specifically define what changes you need to make — and make them! Some may change over time, but if you can grow in the positive from a negative experience, you’re way ahead of the game! I once wrote on a contract for rental space for a large conference, that we wanted the space until 12:00pm — when what I meant was 12:00am. I lost potential revenue of $75,000. What is the system I put into place? ALWAYS use am and pm, and call 12:00pm noon and 12:00am midnight. Never had a problem since!
• Take responsibility! You are responsible for learning and growing! Take every opportunity to move in the right direction. Now that you know that pain can bring great growth, use it for the best understanding!
Pray: Lord, teach me to embrace all that I can from pain, suffering, and loss. Help me help others from my experiences so they can learn for less!
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