By Joe Byerly
High school. Trade school. The Executive MBA.
These are all education programs that teach us.
The missed opportunity. The presentation we bombed last Thursday. The friendship that quietly faded away.
We can learn from these too.
Sometimes we draw a line in the sand between school and life. School is where we learn. Life is where we live.
We carry that mindset into adulthood, as if the moment they handed us the diploma, the learning stopped. We start to see mistakes in our personal and professional lives as failures, rather than proof that we’re still learning.
So we beat ourselves up when things don’t go as planned. We avoid launching the new venture because we’re scared it will tank. We say we suck at the thing—and we don’t try the thing again.
These moments, all moments, are just learning opportunites—chances for us to figure it out, to figure ourselves out.
When we start to see life as a source of education in and of itself, it turns the pressure dial down a bit. Instead of stressing about whether or not we’re getting it right, we realize we’re just learning. We’re getting feedback. We’re making adjustments as we go.
Unlike formal education programs, life gives us the opportunity to shape our own syllabus. We get to choose the professors, the books, and the classroom. A mentor becomes a teacher of hard-earned lessons. A book prepares us for leadership or helps us navigate the fallout of a broken relationship. And we get to seek out the experiences that stretch and grow us.
But sometimes, life hands us a curriculum we never would have chosen—and definitely wouldn’t have signed up for. The sleepless nights, the worry, the pain. It all sucks. But if we study those moments, if we take the time to understand what they’re trying to teach us, we can walk away with something far more valuable than a diploma.
Every experience gives us feedback. An opportunity to learn something about ourselves.
Sometimes life seems to be cheering us down the path we’re on. Doors keep opening. Opportunities keep coming. There’s a lesson in that.
Other times, doors slam in our faces. We hit roadblock after roadblock. There’s a lesson in that.
And sometimes, we’re successful, yet we feel empty. The accolades keep coming, but they don’t fill the hole inside. There’s a lesson in that, too.
This mindset shift, seeing life as an ongoing education, has helped me tremendously in retirement from the military. I didn’t put pressure on myself to find the perfect job—instead, I approached this new chapter as a student. I started over again as an apprentice to an accomplished writer, and in putting myself “back in a classroom”, I’ve learned so much. Even the jobs I’ve tried and didn’t enjoy became opportunities to learn—what I didn’t want to do in the future. And in my free time, I’ve followed my curiosity wherever it leads—down paths of history, literature, and life. And finally, even in my toughest moments, I’ve tried to find the lesson in it.
Life is constantly teaching. The education never stops. We just have to pay attention… and take notes.
The best education is the one we’re open to.
Joe Byerly is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel with 20 years of service, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and command of a cavalry squadron in Europe. He earned numerous prestigious awards, including multiple Legion of Merits, Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart, and General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award. In 2013, Joe founded From the Green Notebook.
A passionate advocate for self-knowledge through reading and reflection, he authored The Leader’s 90-Day Notebook and co-authored My Green Notebook: “Know Thyself” Before Changing Jobs, a resource for leaders seeking greater self-awareness. If this post resonated with you or sparked any questions, feel free to reach out to him at Joe@fromthegreennotebook.com.
