Ever been here?
The other day I was having a conversation I shouldn't have had.
You know the kind – where it becomes clear, moments into it, that I'm not being heard.
Suddenly I was working overtime to simply make my case. I knew I should have stopped talking. I knew I was wasting my time. But I kept at it.
It's frustrating, isn't it?
But I've also been on the other side of the table. I've been stubborn. Unwilling to listen or learn.
And it's likely that reason that drove me further to keep trying to make my point.
I wanted my friend to have the best chance possible at hearing what I was saying, so I kept at it.
That's when I realized something
What I realized was that at some point in my life, I had come to a point where I suddenly saw how little I knew.
Right up until that moment, I would have been boasting about how unique my approach and perspective was.
Right after that moment, I stopped talking. Because I became aware of how silly I had just sounded.
It was a moment of maturity for me. And it took me a long time to reach it. I'm talking decades.
Everyone can teach me something
Once I realized how little I knew, I went from being someone who was constantly trying to demonstrate what I knew, to being someone willing to learn from anyone.
After all, I only have had a single life. My experiences make up a total of 1 person's perspective.
So that means that if I really want to learn stuff, I need to be ready and willing to learn from just about anyone.
My barber. The gals who clean our home. A lawyer I met online. A friend who isn't listening to me.
The last decade has been amazing!
At thirteen, I felt gifted and ahead of the pack – filled with potential.
By twenty three, I knew for certain I was brilliant.
By thirty three, I had been been disabused of the notion of brilliance and was just starting to learn from people.
And now at forty three, I've lived a decade of learning from just about anyone who I come across.
By the way, I have a five week email-based course (for free) that helps you learn things more effectively, if you want it.
So let me ask you this, are you willing to learn from just about anyone?