I picked up my grandson from school and asked the usual question: “What did you learn today?”
Silence.
What was so hard about such a simple question? After spending a whole day at school, surely he had learned many things. I wanted only one thing to talk about. What was the problem?
The next morning, I asked myself, What did you learn yesterday?
Silence.
Surely, busy from the wee hours of the morning to late at night—writing, talking to clients, sharing insights with people one-on-one— a sharp guy like me had learned at least one thing. What was it?
I struggled to remember where I’d been, what I’d done, any conclusion I might have reached. Nothing stood out. If God were to ask, What did you learn yesterday? I’d shrug with no answer and hear him say, Why didn’t you pay better attention to what I was showing you?
Perhaps a daily list would give me an incentive to pay better attention. And it would also give me something to review, to remind myself of what I had learned. In a year, I’d have 365 lessons learned, a phenomenal number since I doubted I could report even six things I’d learned in the last twelve months.
So far, this practice is working well, helping me stay focused and possibly giving me something new and fresh to write about. Like today, when I wrote: Remembering is impossible when I’ve not paid attention to what I want to remember.