Real Pain

by Scott Harper

“There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience, and that is not learning from experience.”

Archibald MacLeish

December 31, 2025

BOOM!

At ten years old, I furiously shook my hand as I tried recovering from the pain of the exploded firecracker. 

 

Michael laughed. “Try it again!”

“I don’t want to try it again! That nearly blew my fingers off!”

“You just need to throw it faster,” my older brother proclaimed with unearned confidence. “You can do it.”

“I don’t wanna do it!”

“Sure, you do.” He handed me another firecracker and leaned in with a lighter. “Here ya go.”

My hands trembled. “Why don’t you do it?”

He looked at me like I had asked the dumbest possible question. “Because I’m holding the lighter. Stop being a wimp.”

I reluctantly touched the firecracker to the flame. The moment the fuse hissed—BOOM!!!

Too late again.

I stared at my throbbing, blackened fingers. Blood trickled from beneath three fingernails. While I tried processing what happened, with mocking laughter, Michael said, “You almost had it. Here’s another one!”

Sharper Leader:

1.      When was the last time you failed to learn from a painful lesson?

  • Action Step: Write down an uncomfortable experience you’ve had and identify the lesson you were supposed to learn.  

 

2.      How have you demonstrated growth from a painful experience?

  • Action Step: Share your hard-earned lessons with someone who needs encouragement.

 

3.      Do you learn from your first, second, or third mistakes?

  • Action Step: If you keep making the same painful missteps, don’t give up. Ask for someone to serve as an accountability partner in a needed area of growth.

 

Recommended book: 7 Men and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas.    

 

Before next week’s The Sharper Minute: Ask a leader you admire about a lesson they struggled to learn through painful experiences.

Happy New Year!

Note: After enrolling, if you do not receive these weekly, please check your junk mail and add Scott@sharperleaders.com to your contacts.

Your information is safe with me. I will not share your contact information or send you junk mail.

Lead. Learn. Grow.