Skip to main content

Open mindedness and humility

One of my favorite interview questions is, "So, what are you learning nowadays?"

Learning something is a great way to stay in touch with the learning process in itself.

Ever so often, we build high walls around us that prevent us from learning - there is arrogance  (I know everything) and that often leads to being blindsided.

I have been struggling with learning a new sport these days. Just the other day when I thought I had cracked it, I ended up with a hand injury that took a few days to heal. And then after that I had to face a coach who was making do a bunch of things which I thought was juvenile.

I could hear my mind go, "Am I supposed to be doing all this?" "I am beyond this" "Why is this idiot making me do all this?" "I know all this - I learnt it in class 1"

And then I realized that this is a typical response when we are confronted with change or sometimes with a different situation (at life or work).

Learning ensures that you are humble. Of accepting that the kid who is teaching you, is an expert in something you aren't an expert in. Of accepting that you need to learn more. Of accepting that you need to do more. Persist. Persevere. And keep at it till you get it (if you want to get better at whatever you are learning).

Learning ensures that you need to be open minded. That coach will tell you to move your legs in a particular way and keep admonishing (or encouraging) you to get that last bit right till you do it the right way. It is all about opening your mind to hearing, to listening, to calming, to accepting instead of rejecting...

And just having this exposure ever so often makes one a better human being...I love this process. 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

The man who saved Pumpelsdrop

This was a story we had in college if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was in school, but a delightful story it was. The story goes somewhat like this ( reproduced from here ), but the college version we had was slightly different from this.  I t was a dull, gloomy and a depressing morning in a town named Pumpelsdrop in northern England. The Great Depression had brought all the businesses to a standstill. The bored automobile dealer was spending time alone, as usual. But, this seems to be an unusual morning as an odd entity (customer) appeared on the horizon. A man in a bright suit walks up to the dealer and says, "I need to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom II. We have a business conference coming up and I need to impress my customers". Then proceeds to pay 10% of the deal with a single check for 2000 pounds. The rest he says will pay when he takes the delivery.   The auto dealer was stunned. He was delighted to hear that someone is holding a business conference of some kind and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...
Post a Comment
Read more