How to Use the AAR Method to Learn From Your Mistakes
<p>Let’s do a quick exercise: Think of your last five mistakes.</p>
<p>These could be in your personal or professional life — anything that went wrong due to an error on your end.</p>
<p>How many of those mistakes have you made for the <em>first </em>time?</p>
<p>If we’re honest, most of our mistakes are repeated.</p>
<p>We fight with our partner for the same reasons, make the same mistakes when managing our time and priorities, and fail to achieve our goals because we stick to our same old habits.</p>
<p>Now imagine if you <em>never</em> made the same mistake twice.</p>
<p>Imagine <em>knowing</em> that you learn from past failures, so you can confidently improve how you live and work.</p>
<p>That’s the purpose of an After-Action Review (AAR).</p>
<p>AAR is a 4-step framework to review your successes and failures, so you can learn from them and draw meaningful conclusions for the future.</p>
<p>Instead of dwelling on mistakes, you try to comprehend the root issues that created them.</p>
<p>When we know why and how we made certain mistakes, we become aware of how to <em>avoid</em> them the next time.</p>
<p>The After-Action Review was initially <a href="https://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/thought-leadership/wharton-at-work/2021/07/after-action-reviews-simple-tool/#:~:text=Called%20%E2%80%9Cone%20of%20the%20most,the%20AAR%20for%20performance%20assessment." rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">developed</a> by the US military to quickly learn from their successes and failures.</p>
<p>Today, it’s used by a wide range of organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l61dcs45HDI" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">World Health Organization</a>. They all use the method to learn from mistakes and constantly improve workflows and outcomes.</p>
<p>The biggest strength of an AAR is that it shifts the focus <em>away</em> from the person and onto the actual problem. That’s what makes them so powerful as a personal reviewing method too. You detach yourself from the failure and focus on the facts and lessons to be learned.</p>
<p><a href="https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-use-the-aar-method-to-learn-from-your-mistakes-eae38079ccec"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>