🌱 My 3 favorite questions (and better “discernment”)

Mitchell Cohen
October 22, 2023

Learn: Discernment, 3 favorite questions, judgment
Read: 3 mins

Greetings from Austin,

Word of the week: discernment

Depending on our vantage point…

Things can look VERY different.

In an era of endless information, discernment is the SUPERPOWER of the future.

Discernment is our ability to see things clearly and make good decisions. Aka, good judgment.

Here are 3 ways to improve your discernment.

✂️ Separate

The origin of discernment comes from the Latin word discernere, meaning “to separate” or “to divide.”

Discernment is separating out all the noise.

Lorne Michaels is the creator of "Saturday Night Live" and a master discerner.

His ultimate skill, as described by Jerry Seinfeld, came down to his "taste and discernment."

Choosing what to do means also choosing what NOT to do.

Don’t get me wrong, I love good journal prompts or reflection questions. But I’ll be honest, there can be too many to choose from.

I read things like “the 20 best monthly self-reflection questions” and get overwhelmed.

But here are 3 I always revisit:

Rather than ignoring the past, these quickly highlight the lessons. Plus, the last question helps APPLY the learnings for next time.

Best part is that we can use it for anything. Example using this newsletter:

What worked well? Sharing specific/real examples of how I’ve used ideas, frameworks, templates
What didn’t work? Waiting until Saturday night and feeling rushed
What next time? Create two calendar invites. One at the beginning of the week for just 20 minutes of ideation. Another to draft and publish.

"Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment." - Rita Mae Brown

In other words, don't waste bad judgments or experiences by not learning from them.

Leverage reflection questions as the bridge to better discernment.

What's something you're reflecting on right now? (Hit reply and holler.)

Salud,

Mitchell