Always learning

Just watched the Bulls defeat the Suns, a pretty surprising victory given how hapless a basketball team the Bulls have been for much of this season. Down by twelve points and the game clearly over with under a minute to play, the Suns took two timeouts. In each timeout their coach drew up a play.

For the fan waiting to celebrate the victory or wanting the futility to just be over, these timeouts are pretty frustrating. But to a team that is learning for a future game, it's good strategy. And it's not only good for the losers. I'm sure that while the Suns were drawing up plays to use in the future, so too were the soon-to-be-victorious Bulls. A timeout, after all, is time designated for learning.

It's a simple commitment, to always keep learning, but it's a commitment that is easy to break both when things are going well and when things have gone bad enough to want to simply get beyond them. Quality teams, organizations, and leaders don't get distracted by success or failure to the extent that they fail to continue learning.

So a timeout with 22 seconds left and the game well over is time well spent. Where do you need to call a timeout for yourself or for a team, organization, or congregation that you're a part of? What is there waiting for you, and me, to learn?