Use this better life circle. In this episode, we are going to discuss and
answer the question "How do I learn from mistakes and improve from experiences to
do better next time?"
So, my name is Doug Andrew. I love to teach people. I've been doing this for
45 years. I've authored 11 books. My goal is to write a book every year
the rest of my life. And one of my favorite books that I've written is
titled "Entitlement Abolition". How to lead your family from "Me, Me, Me" to "We, together
we're better." And there's a lot of ideas in this book that I share with the
reader on how to empower those that you care about --your children, your
grandchildren, your employees. In the book, I actually have a resource where I
provide tools that I've created. Their thinking tools to empower people to be
able to think through and make better decisions. Arrive at solutions to
problems, make the right decisions. And I'm going to share with you some of the
most powerful tools that are very simple that you can employ and use. One of my
favorite is called The Better Life circle. We have used this tool now for
several years. And it's very simple. You don't even need the sheet of paper. But
when people read the book and they come online, they download these. Because these
are copyrighted forms. But let me explain that's really a simple 4-step process.
First of all, when do you use this form to go through this thinking process. It
says it's a better life circle. We all go through life with experiences both good
and bad. But we want to learn from the previous experiences. What went right and
what went wrong and what should we do again the next time we do it. And so, in
my professional life, whenever I teach a seminar or hold an educational event, it
may be with 60 people in the room. And maybe with 2,000 people. Sometimes 4,000
people in an audience. And whenever I put on an educational event that's one-day,
2 days, 3 days, I always fill out a better life circle at the end of the
event. When I record radio shows, when I write a book,
when I hold our annual Grandpa's camp; I always fill out a better life circle so
that I improve from the things we learned from the previous events. So, let
me go through this form and how I would use it. We'll probably use an example
like them of grandpas camp to help you understand it. And then I'll give you
some ideas on how you could use it in other areas of your life. So, whenever you
have an experience that you want to improve from or you want to transform
what you learned, because you want to make the learning greater than the
experience. And so, it's very simple. I take out one of these forms in the very
first blank here after I put my name and the date on here. I'll write down the
actual experience that I would like to learn from. So, I might write down year
2020 grandpa's camp. Now, what's grandpa's camp?
My wife and I, we have 6 children and 17 grandchildren so far. And one of the
best things we do every summer as we hold an annual grandpa's camp. And in a
nutshell, that's where the teenage children come for the first 3 days.
And we do high adventures and the mountains we do rappelling. Hot-air
ballooning and we might even skydive someday. But we also talk teenage talk,
adult talk. And I actually teach them with these tools. The next 2 days, the
8-year-olds and older come and join them with Grandpa up at 10,500 feet. And
then the 4, 5, 6, 7 year olds join grandma at the cabin. And then we
bring them all together. But every year that we do this, the parents aren't
allowed to come until the final day with the little toddlers the 1, 2 and
3 year olds. We keep getting better and better because we fill out a better
life circle form. So, if I was putting down a grandpa's camp, our first one was
the year 2013. So, I would put down grandpa's camp 2013. Over here, the second
step is to list the positive things that happened versus the negative things. In
other words, what went right at grandpa's camp this
year and and what didn't go so right. What went wrong? The very first year for
example, we brought them all together. And I realize that some of the hobbies and
crafts... Because I have all of the grandchildren take their turn to conduct
a hobby or a craft and teach a lesson or a story that they've learned about from
their ancestors or maybe a great person like Thomas Edison or whatever. Depending
upon what the theme is. We have different themes every year. Like, last year was be
a possibility thinker. I realized that sometimes some of those activities we're
a little bit elementary for the teenagers. And they were getting antsy.
And maybe even getting on the verge of being bored. And so, I filled out a better
life circle. The next year, we decided to have the teenagers come for the first
3 days. It wasn't that way first. But we changed it. And all was it a hit.
Because then we were able to do adult activities and then we involved them as
facilitators when the 8-year olds came and the 4-year olds came because
we have an annual treasure hunt. So now, I don't have to do the treasure hunt. I
assign that to the teenagers and they love drawing the treasure map and doing
the treasure hunt for all the little kids and everything like that. They also
help with facilitating a lot of the games and the activities. I put them in
charge. I just show up and sort of monitor and facilitate because I
continue to improve grandpa's camp every single year by filling out a better life
circle. Another example we used to have our grandchildren of similar age pair up
with their cousins of same age groups. And they would present the idea, the
lesson, the activity, the book report, the actual art and crafts. But it was very
hard sometimes for them to get together and coordinate with their cousin. So, by
filling out a better life circle, what we did is we kept it in the family. We have
6 children. So now, they with their siblings all will coordinate together.
Because they're home, they're close to each other and they come prepared with a
particular lesson. A topic that I've assigned them. They have it at different
levels for different age groups and it's been a hit ever since.
So, what you do is you write down what went right what went wrong and how
you're going to improve it. So, down here on the bottom, what is it that you're
going to do differently? How will this transform? The first year we did
grandpa's camp. We had every minute planned. Well, we found it was better just
to be flexible. I have a beatitude. Blessed are the
flexible. For they shall not be been out of shape. So now, we do a main activity in
the morning one after lunch and one in the evening. There's a lot of free time.
And we haven't a lot of flexibility and they don't feel so rushed to get from
one activity to the next to the next. Because we build in that flexibility. And
so finally, over here in the fourth box, you're writing down the step by step
process that you're going to use at the next grandpa's camp to make sure it
comes off with a hit. That it is better than the ones before. And every year from
2013, the annual grandpa's camp gets better and better to the point, you ask
any of our grandchildren. And I don't think they say this just to appease
grandpa. But they say we would rather come to grandpa's camp than any other
vacation even Disneyland. And I am thrilled because they love getting
together and riding 4-wheelers and doing activities and learning and being
with their cousins without their parents around.
Now, what if it's not a camp? It could be a seminar, it could be what you're doing
in your real estate business. Your dental business and practice. It could be what
you do as a fitness trainer. Or a nutritionist. I've helped numerous
entrepreneurs improve their processes by filling out one page after each event.
And then they keep it in a file cabinet. The next time they hold the event, they
pull it out just like I do every year for grandpa's camp. So, this is really a
better life circle. Let me give you one last little idea. There are many times I
meet people that have gone through a marriage that didn't work out. Not all
marriages are really meant to probably stay together. And so, oft times, I will
hear comments "Why I do I keep marrying jerks?" I go, "Hmm, well
how fast did you get into the next relationship?" "Oh, about a month later. I
guess I was on the rebound." I said, "Could I make a suggestion? Why don't you fill
out the sheet of paper at the end of that marriage that failed and write down
and what you learned, okay? What was good? What went right in that marriage? What
went wrong?" And if you were going to get married again, what would you do to make
sure you were compatible and things worked out. And in what order would you
then start to develop a relationship with another partner? And they sit there
they go, "I've never thought of that before." Would you like a better life? Why
don't you fill out a sheet of paper and then maybe they don't make the same
mistakes? They can see signals that they're not going to be compatible and
you won't have to make so many mistakes because you can correct them by using a
simple form called the better life circle. So, how can you learn more about
tools like this? The better life circle is such a popular tool in our family. We
sort of put it on our tool belt. These are available everywhere for our
children, our employees. They're at their fingertips all throughout our office.
Other tools are in a tool box, you use one supporter. Maybe once every 6
months. Some tools are in a tool shed. You just
use it once a year, they're seasonal. But I want to gift you absolutely free a
copy of my book Entitlement Abolition. You can read through this. I'll pay for
the book. You just pay $5.95 shipping and handling. You go to
entitlementabolitionbook.com. That's entitlementabolitionbook.com.
And I'll send out a copy of this book absolutely free. You just pay $5.95
shipping and handling. You can also learn by listening or watching. I have
master classes, I have audiobooks but this will empower you and you'll also
have access to the tools that I'm talking about. So, here's to your brighter
future. Get your free copy of entitlement abolition. I want
you to be able to be empowered to rethink your thinking for a better life.