Consequences are slow teachers. Pay attention the first time so you don’t need a second lesson.

Results arrive late, which is what makes them hard to learn from. By the time the fee lands or the grade posts, the choice behind it feels like somebody else’s. The first signal is almost always smaller and cheaper than the second one, and the reason people need a second lesson is that they filed the first under bad luck.

Think of something that went wrong for you recently and name the decision it traces back to, not the moment it surfaced. Write down the one sentence you would tell yourself a week earlier. Keep it where you will see it before that week comes round again.