In my last post (Giving the lie to failure as a learning experience) I decried the focus on failure as a learning experience. I argued that success and failure both offer learning opportunities if you really extend yourself, and that neither offer much learning opportunity if you are doing the same thing you've always done. The main point is to put yourself in new situations, and learn from unexpected results.

So what should you learn when you're surprised by new experiences? I think as humans, we're all pretty bad at turning conscious learning into actual action. Studies have shown that our intentions are not necessarily good predictors of our actions. Anyone who has ever made a New Years' resolution and fallen short of her goals is aware of this fact.

So I recommend asking yourself two questions the next time you're surprised by success or failure:

• What have you learned about yourself? Think about what the unexpected result reveals about your own traits. Self-reflection is important and, I believe, underused.
• What new habits or practices will you implement as a result of what you have learned? Too often we learn something, but don't take action in response to what we have learned.

What are other questions you think it would be a good idea to ask?