What’s more important – Lab or Lecture?

Which do you think is more important, your lab grade or your lecture grade?

I tend to work primarily with engineers, so I wonder if this question brought you back to your engineering school days. It certainly does to me – very vividly! One semester, I had a class in electrical engineering that always comes to mind when I think about this difference between lab and lecture.

In the lecture class, I had a difficult time. I would study; I would pay attention; I would read through the book. I would think – I got it. And then I would take the test…and the results showed that I had not got it! This also happened in my homework – I would feel like I understood, I would do the problem, and my answer would be wrong.

I couldn't understand why I getting it intellectually, but then not able to put it on paper. Now, this class also had an associated lab. I had zero problems with the lab and earned solid As in that lab class. My lecture class grade never even close to measured up to that. Yes, it still frustrates me today!

What I'm using this example to show is that for the same material, lab and lecture are two very different things. I encourage you to see your life as your laboratory. It doesn't matter in life if you can intellectually figure things out. What matters in life is that you can do it, you can create it, you can get the results you want. Because even if intellectually we know what to do, or we think we know what to do, it's putting it into action that actually gives us results that we're looking for.

It's one idea to know what a happy life might be like and another thing to experience a happy life.

So, simple message today: think about the difference between lecture and lab. Are you treating your life more like a lecture class and need to treat it more like a lab? It needs to be more about seeing what results you’re actually getting in your life, and using that to tweak your approach. It doesn't matter what the book says that matters, it matters what the experiment setup reveals. So, use your life as a feedback mechanism for you to implement into a better setup in your lab.

This is what I do as a Certified High Performance Coach. Reach out to me via direct message or through my website if you are interested in having a free strategy session on high performance coaching. I would love to hear from you if you are in a place where you are ready to reach some goals but are just feeling stuck or having difficulty gaining momentum.

I really appreciate your time and your attention today. Until next time, be your best and keep being evolutionary!