There isn't always a lesson

Don't draw broad conclusions when things go wrong

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is that there isn't always a lesson. While
it is human nature to try to draw conclusions when

(00:24):
something bad happens, sometimes bad things just happen. Acknowledging that
can keep you from cutting yourself off from good things
in the future. I am sure we can all call
to mind instances where people have drawn rather broad lessons

(00:44):
from bad experiences. The person who gets lost or suffers
from a stomach bug during an international trip and decides
to never travel internationally again. The person who has a
childcare snaphoo and decides this means that it is impossible
to successfully have a career and a family. The new

(01:07):
investor who decides to pay a bit too close of
attention to the stock market sees the market dip four
percent in a week and promptly pulls all their money
out for good. Unfortunately, this is often the way the
human brain works when something bad happens. We want to

(01:27):
know why. We hunt for a reason because the reason
suggests a solution. If we learn the lesson, then this
bad thing will never happen. To us again. And that
may be true for some things, but most likely bad
stuff will still happen from time to time. Bad stuff

(01:50):
happens even when people do everything right, and unfortunately, drawing
really broad lessons means that other bad things define will
happen to us as a result of learning these so
called lessons. There is a big and wonderful world out there.
Someone who decides it's just too scary to travel internationally

(02:13):
is never going to experience much of that world. There
is great satisfaction in building a fulfilling career and great
satisfaction in raising a happy family. Someone who decides it
is impossible to do both will cut him or herself
off from one of these sources of fulfillment. And keeping
all your money in a savings account at zero point

(02:36):
zero five percent interest means definitely losing money to inflation.
If there is a lesson to be learned, great, I
now keep diaper wipes in my purse after being caught
without them in a situation where a child's diaper change
really required the proper supplies. This is a useful lesson. However,

(03:00):
in many situations there either is no lesson or the
lesson could be much more narrowly construed. Perhaps our international
traveler could simply start with bottled water in any new destination.
Perhaps our person who believes it is impossible to have
it all could figure out a workable backup childcare plan
in any high stake situation. Perhaps our investor could learn

(03:25):
to invest conservatively a smaller percent of their assets in
the market and only in index funds, and they could
remind themselves to look at their portfolio once every six months.
That would be a reasonable lesson. Or maybe there is
no lesson. Stocks go up and stocks go down, so

(03:49):
it goes. Sometimes we all have bad days on the
job and bad days at home. Sometimes things we thought
would work don't oh well. By taking an oh well
approach or learning a very narrow lesson, we don't cut
ourselves off from lots of future positives, and that is

(04:13):
a much better lesson to learn. In the meantime, This
is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear

(04:33):
from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b The number
four than Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media
dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

(04:55):
the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
in touch. MM. Before Breakfast is a production of I
heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit
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