{"id":16512,"date":"2025-11-28T10:27:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/lessons-learned-template\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:27:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:27:30","slug":"lessons-learned-template","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/lessons-learned-template\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned Template"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me tell you about the time I tried to launch a community garden in my suburban neighborhood \u2013 and accidentally became the poster child for why<\/em> you need a lessons learned template. Picture this: me, a sleep-deprived mom of twins, armed with Pinterest dreams and a Costco-sized bag of zucchini seeds. I\u2019d convinced six families to chip in. By August? We had 12-foot sunflowers blocking street signs, a raccoon mafia living in the compost bin, and exactly three edible tomatoes.<\/p>\n

The turning point came<\/strong> when my neighbor Sharon (bless her Southern honesty) said: \u201cHoney, next time, write down what NOT to do.\u201d<\/em> Turns out, documenting disaster is the ultimate life hack. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned after 4 years of trial\/error \u2013 including that time my DIY car repair notes went viral in our Nextdoor group:<\/p>\n

\n

The Messy Truth About \u201cLessons Learned\u201d<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. \n

    Your first template will suck.<\/strong> Mine looked like a cross between a Shakespearean sonnet and a CVS receipt. I tried categorizing failures by moon phases (don\u2019t ask). What actually worked? A 3-column Google Doc:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • What exploded<\/strong> (figuratively\u2026mostly)<\/li>\n
    • Why it matters<\/strong> (spoiler: your ego isn\u2019t a valid reason)<\/li>\n
    • Next time, I\u2019ll\u2026<\/strong> (be specific: \u201cBuy squirrel-proof bins BEFORE planting\u201d<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • \n

      Timing is everything.<\/strong> I used to do post-mortems when the rage was still fresh \u2013 terrible idea. Now I wait 48 hours (or until the wine rack is restocked). The magic question: \u201cWould this help Future Me or just make Past Me feel better?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      Embrace the cringe.<\/strong> My most valuable template entry? \u201cStop explaining blockchain at PTA meetings.\u201d<\/em> Vulnerability builds muscle memory. I keep these gems in a password-protected doc titled \u201cYIKES ARCHIVE.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \n

      The BBQ Test\u2122 (My American Litmus)<\/h3>\n

      A good template should be like grilling burgers:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • Simple<\/strong> (You\u2019re not writing a TED Talk)<\/li>\n
      • Repeatable<\/strong> (Works for work projects and<\/em> your kid\u2019s failed lemonade stand)<\/li>\n
      • Shareable<\/strong> (Slack it, text it, carve it into a Jell-O mold)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        My go-to format now lives in Trello. It\u2019s just:<\/p>\n

        [ What happened ]  \n[ Why it hurt ]   \u2794  [ What I\u2019ll change ]  \n<\/code><\/pre>\n
        Example from last month\u2019s Great Garage Sale Debacle<\/em>:
        \n\u201cPriced antique lamp at $5  \u2794 Karen resold it on Facebook Marketplace for $200 \u2794 Next time: Google Lens first, then wine.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
        \n
        The Unsexy Hack Nobody Talks About<\/h3>\n
        Set a calendar reminder titled \u201cForget-Me-Not Fridays\u201d<\/strong> (mine pops up with a taco emoji  \ud83c\udf2e). Spend 10 minutes updating your template while memories are still warm. I do this during my kid\u2019s soccer practice \u2013 the chaos keeps me honest.<\/p>\n
        Oh, and that garden fiasco? Our revised template became the blueprint for a thriving pumpkin patch. We even outsmarted the raccoons (hint: chili powder and classic rock playlists). Sharon brings her famous pecan pie now instead of side-eye.<\/p>\n
        \n
        Your homework<\/strong> (if you want it):<\/p>\n
          \n
        1. Open Notes app right now<\/em><\/li>\n
        2. Write one recent \u201coof\u201d moment<\/li>\n
        3. Add ONE thing you\u2019d change
          \nThat\u2019s your template seed. Water it with caffeine and humility.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          And if anyone judges your process? Tell them the raccoon story. Works every time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
          Let me tell you about the time I tried to launch a community garden in my suburban neighborhood \u2013 and accidentally became the poster child for why you need a lessons learned template. Picture this: me, a sleep-deprived mom of twins, armed with Pinterest dreams and a Costco-sized bag of zucchini seeds. I\u2019d convinced six…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}