Let’s start out with a good ol’ fashioned cliche:
Your attitude + your aptitude = your altitude.
This is my “AND” to something Zig Ziglar has always preached. For those of you who don’t read much, Zig’s a noteworthy sales and business speaker and author. Has been for the last 40 years. He’s written about 2 billion books. No big deal.
One of the most important attitudes in life everyone must examine and sort out for themselves is their attitude towards learning. NOT as in “I think learning is good.” Almost everyone can agree with that. More like “I am a committed life-long learner.”
Or not.
Fact: Forty-two percent of American adults reported that they did not read a single book last year. That’s from a recent National Endowment for the Arts Study called “Reading at Risk.”
Now, lest you think of me as some librarian scold, think anew. Ask yourself, “am I a life-long learner?” If you answered “yes” to that question, ask yourself another one: “What, exactly, have I learned in the past year?” Keep going…one more question: “Who teaches me?”
There’s lots to learn, and much of it has nothing to do with reading. For example, what have you learned from your kids lately? Your mate? Your team at work? Do they see you as open to learn? Willing to let them teach you?
If so, you’re a fool.
Yes, a fool. That’s what learners are. They are willing to “feel the fool” in order to learn. Think of the humility it takes to allow your kids to teach you. And to let them know that they can, and that you want them to. What about your team? Do they think you are open to their perspectives and insights? Are you willing to ask them “dumb questions?” How about your mate? Can she or he penetrate the protective armor around your skull, and your heart, with any insights?
For the longest time in my life, it was difficult to tell me anything I didn’t already know. Even if I didn’t already know it, I could not let others see that. I had to be right, all the time, with everyone, 24/7.
Now THAT’S a REAL fool.
The only thing that attitude got me was no net learning and a discouraged, disconnected team. Who could possibly want to give Jim some help, advice, or feedback? He’s heard it all before. So why bother? And they didn’t. Ouch.
The willingness to admit ignorance and to look foolish is the attitude you want. That’s the precursor to having the attitude of a life-long learner. As Johnny said in his recent blog post, you’ve got to just take that first, awkward, foolish step. Don’t wait for perfection. Just go, act, move. The mistakes you make will form a small new database of things you didn’t know before that will prove invaluable as you make the next move, take the next step.
Don’t be a fool. Be a fool for LEARNING.
BUILT TO LEAD 