According to John C Maxwell, “People with a
teachable spirit approach each day as an opportunity for another learning
experience. Their hearts are open. Their minds are alert for something new.
Their attitudes are expectant. They know that success has less to do with
possessing natural talent and more to do with choosing to learn.”
Becoming and remaining teachable requires
you to honestly and openly evaluate youself on a continual basis. Any time you
face a challenge, loss, or problem, one of the first things you need to ask
yourself is, “Am I the cause?” If the answer is yes, then you need to be ready
to make changes. Recognizing your own part in your failings, seeking solutions
(no matter how painful), and working hard to put them into place leads to the
ability to change, grow, and move forward in life.
Being teachable and humble is not about
competency or mental ability; it is all about a thirst and an appreciation for
knowledge. When I meet someone who is teachable they are self-effacing, they
listen well, acknowledge their errors and fix them, continually seek more
knowledge, and surround themselves with seasoned educators.
The secret to any person’s success can be
found in his or her daily agenda. People grow and improve, not by huge leaps
and bounds, but by small, incremental changes. Teachable people try to leverage
this truth by learning something new every day. A single day is enough to make
us a little larger or a little smaller. Several single days strung together
will make us a lot larger or a lot smaller. If we do that every day, day upon
day, there is great power for change.
After you learn
something new, it is very important to use that knowledge, to act – this is how
you incorporate that knowledge into your being. Learning is great, but learning
without action will bring you a great amount of overwhelming feelings that
never help.
Developing a teachable
attitude should be at the top of your self-development plan because everything
else is directly related to how teachable you are, how open you are to new information.
You cannot grow if you are not willing to change, to accept new perspectives on
life or to change your habits.
Teachability is not a talent or something
that you’re born with – those are just victim mindsets. You can learn to be
teachable, even if it sounds very odd. We all have the ability to learn
different skills in life, some skills will come easier for you, while others
will be a pain in the butt, but you have the ability to learn anything you set
your mind to and you can also become world-class at it if you are persistent.
Might be a bit too much to say this, but
your level of teachability might dictate your level of happiness and success in
life. Why? Because, to become successful in any industry, you have to
constantly work on keeping up with the latest information and technology. But
you can only become as successful as your level of teachability. Once you stop
learning, you are not actually standing still, you are going backward because
the Universe is ever expanding and moving forward. So, you either learn
something every day (grow) or take on the “know-it-all” attitude and die (in a
metaphorical way, of course).
No comments:
Post a Comment