What Is "O.P.M. Wisdom"?

What IS "O.P.M. Wisdom"?

Depending on who you are and what your background or life experience is, will likely influence your guess on this one. Now, don't feel bad if you don't come up with ANYTHING on this one, o.k.? 

Perhaps the first thing that came to your mind when you saw the letters "O.P.M." was "Office of Personnel Management". I even saw a listing for "Office of Pest Management". So, in the area of "office" there could be any number of listings that go along with that.

Now, if you are one that has researched work-from-home opportunities or any type of entrepreneurial endeavors, then the idea of "Other People's Money" may be what came to mind.  And, yes, that might display some sort of wisdom - having the ability to grow your business using other people's money BUT...that is not what I'm going to be talking about today.

I'll get to that in a moment  but, first, I want to give a little background as to what it was that made me come up with that phrase and to also feel the need to share this information in this blog as well as on the podcast (see podcast links at bottom of article) that goes along with this same topic.

Let me start off by asking you this question: "How do you learn?" or "How do you think most people learn - beginning as a baby?"

For sure, much learning comes from trial and error, right? How does a baby learn to crawl and then walk? Trial and error. Some babies don't crawl, they "scoot". I've seen babies scoot like an inchworm and I've seen babies learn how to sit up and scoot along on their bottom...almost hopping!

But, basically, there's only one way to walk and that definitely takes place with trial and error. 

Did you ever learn how to ride a bicycle? If you did, do you remember that process? I do and I can say real quick that IT IS NOT FUN! Crashing was not (and still is not) fun! And, once you've crashed and felt the pain that came with it, it's HARD to get back on that bike and go at it again. But, apparently the MOTIVATION of being able to ride that bike like your brothers, sisters and/or friends was greater than the fear and, after a period of trial and error, you learned how to ride that bike.

But, is that the ONLY way that we learn? Of course not!

I have three adult sons and I remember the difference in the "learning curve" between the first one, the second one and the third one. The second one learned most things a lot quicker than the first one because he had someone to learn from (besides his parents) - his brother! And, the third one learned even quicker because he had TWO brothers to learn from.

Follow me so far? Good.

I have two brothers and three sisters while my wife has only one brother. Overall, I'd say I learned mostly positive things from my brothers and sisters and don't remember much of anything that I thought I needed to avoid in their actions. Now, my wife tells me that she would watch her older brother and figure out what NOT to do! He wasn't (and isn't) a bad person but he just got in a lot more trouble than she did. (Now, I do have to say that little sisters are quite sneaky!).  

So, here we go with the main point - ARE YOU READY?

Some people feel that the only way to LEARN anything - or to gain wisdom - is by trial and error. More or less, what they believe is that they may have to "crash and burn" over and over again before they finally "get it". Then, they learn and are wiser.

And, yes, that is ONE way to learn. A very painful way to learn, at times, but it is a way to learn.

However, I want to present another way to learn and gain wisdom - "O.P.M. WISDOM"  and the "O.P.M." stands for "Other People's MISTAKES". 

I told my Dad once that I guess I was one of those that had to learn lessons the hard way and he very gently told me that this was not true. He was the first to point out to me the value in learning from OTHER people's mistakes. 

Just in general, HISTORY is a prime example of how we can - and SHOULD - learn from the mistakes of the past. The problem is that too may people have no clue about history and, thus, many people (and societies) continue to repeat the same mistakes. 

What about YOU?

I can pretty much guarantee that YOU have learned more than you realize by observing "other peoples mistakes" and deciding to do something different than they did. 

That, my friend, is a WISE way to learn as much as possible. WATCH others. TAKE NOTE in their actions and the RESULTS (or lack thereof). By the way, they may be GOOD results or they may be BAD results, otherwise known as CONSEQUENCES. And then, finally, after watching and taking notice, you then make a DECISION.

That's "O.P.M. WISDOM".

Think about that and ask yourself if, perhaps, you need to pay more attention to this type of wisdom. Hey, listen, sometimes that means that you will actually have to do some RESEARCH as part of the process. In case you don't know, it's also called  DUE DILIGENCE (look it up if you don't know what that is). 

Now that I've given you this simple - but often neglected - "formula" for gaining wisdom, in my next article I will discuss what is actually said by those that reject this idea or that insist that the only way to learn or gain wisdom is through trial and error.

Send me some feedback to my Facebook Fan Page - I'd love to get your thoughts there and you can shoot me an e-mail at anytime. 

Pay attention and keep your eyes open, friend. Watch others as others watch you! (Oh yeah, there are others that are watching YOU as well.)

Until next time, always be sure to... 

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike

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