See your experience as a starting point, not as a complete and finished product

It’s great to learn from what you experience. Yet it’s important to remember that your experience, as varied and extensive as it may be, does not represent everything there is.

As valuable as your experience is, be careful not to extrapolate it too far. A little knowledge about something is great, as long as you remind yourself you don’t know everything about the subject.

Just because someone hurt you once, does not mean that everyone will hurt you. Just because you’re experienced at walking through your neighborhood, doesn’t mean you’re prepared to walk across the continent.

See your experience as a starting point, not as a complete and finished product. Be eager to admit what you don’t know and cannot yet do, and then build on your experience to steadily add more skills and wisdom.

A little bit of experience puts you in position to gain even more experience, so take advantage of that opportunity. Do the work to extend your experience rather than assuming you can instantly extrapolate it.

Your experience is valuable. Add greatly to that value with a little humility.

— Ralph Marston