We have a bike rack that carries four bikes. Two years ago, I made the mistake of not fastening the front of the last bike. We drove a couple of miles before we realized what happened and paid for the damage to the bike (tire replaced, brake adjustment).
I felt the pain of that mistake for days. Every subsequent time we took our bikes out, I took a lot of care to fasten all four bikes. I made a mental note to check the back at least once as I started driving, and so on.
Yesterday, I made this mistake again. Luckily, this time, it was a bigger bike and it just somehow lay flat on the rack. My response was to say “phew” and thank my/our stars.
At least it almost was.
Until I wondered why I wasn’t spending as much time reflecting on what caused this mistake. My default response was to just brush it away as a close call… and move on.
Three reflections:
(1) Anything we learn has a rate of decay. When I learnt my lesson about fastening the bikes carefully, I changed my behavior immediately. But, two years in, I’ve not taken any steps to reinforce that learning. Ergo decay.
It is a good reminder for any safety related lessons we learn. Take the time to refresh and reinforce said lessons from time to time.
(2) It takes intentionality and discipline to squeeze learning out of wins and close calls. It is important to simulate pain and learn from such experiences.
(3) We remember bad luck and forget good luck by default. Ditch the default. Pay attention to the good luck.
There’s often a lot more to be grateful for than we realize.
