I came across My Life as a Knowledge Worker which was an interview with Peter Drucker talking about “the 7 personal experience that taught him how to grow, change, and age.”

1st Experience - Strive for perfection one more time.

All my life as a musician, I have striven for perfection. It has always eluded me. I surely had an obligation to make one more try. - Giuseppe Verdi

Verdi wrote this after his final “masterpiece” when he was asked why did he undertake one more opera after already establishing himself as one of the most influential opera composer. Drucker discovered the composer wrote this masterpiece at 80 years of age.

2nd Experience - Because the gods will see.

Drucker read a story about a famous Greek sculptor named Phidias who was commissioned to create the statues that stood on the roof of the Parthenon in Athens. The accountant for Athens refused to pay the bill for Phidias work because “no one can see anything but their fronts” due to the statues’ location on the roof of the Paratheneon.

Phidias replied “You are wrong, the gods can see them.”

3rd Experience - If you can’t master it, at least be competent.

Drucker talks about his experience as a journalist. He felt he should know what he is writing about so he formed a habit to learn one subject at a time.

He took his time to learn as much as he could and came to realize there are “different assumptions” and different approaches to the same subject.

4th Experience - Set aside time for reflection.

Drucker learns a valuable lesson from his boss who set aside a block of time to answer these questions.

• What are the things you did well in the last 6 months?
• What are the things you tried to do well in the last 6 months?
• What are the things you could have done better in the last 6 months?
• What are the things you did poorly in the last 6 months?

While Drucker’s boss did this every 6 months during two days, Drucker modified this to once a year during 2 weeks. I suppose you can choose your own time frame as long as you do it consistently each year.

5th Experience - Question your effectiveness.

Drucker talks about his experience when he started a new job which is quite humorous. His boss asked him one day “What should you be doing now to be effective in your new job?”

Drucker explains that each time you take on a new project, you should be questioning yourself as to what you can do to be effective in your new project.

6th Experience - Measure your progress on paper.

This is a lesson I have learned well. Drucker explained by writing down what you expect to happen as a result of an important decision you are about to make, you are creating an opportunity down the road to reflect on the results of your action.

By doing so, you will be able to measure your strengths, discover ways to improve what you can improve on, and realize what you can not do.

7th Experience - Remember your legacy.

Drucker recalls a conversation he listens in on between his father and an old friend, Joseph Schumpeter, an influential economist. In his youth, Schumpeter spoke of being remembered for being “Europe’s greatest lover of beautiful women and Europe’s greatest horseman - and perhaps also the world’s greatest economist.”

Some 40 years later, Schumpeter reflected on this, “this question is still important to me, but I now answer it differently. I want to be remembered as having been the teacher who converted half a dozen brilliant students into first-rate economists.”

Drucker explains that you should ask yourself what you want to be remembered for and know that will change as you mature in the ever-changing ways of the world and know it is worth being remembered for the difference you make in the lives of those you meet.

Which lesson do you think is the most important one?