Dr. John C. Maxwell, world-renowned leadership expert, often says that our personal success is directly proportional to our ability to learn, un-learn, and re-learn. I firmly agree, and submit that simply learning something, a skill or a trade, is only a small portion of the overall learning process. We are creatures of habit and routine. Its very easy for human-beings to get into the process of doing something, and we often fall into routines subconsciously. Its also energizing, in most cases, to learn something new.
However - UN-learning has been the biggest benefactor to me over the years(and I fear that re-learning will play a major part in my later years). A mentor of mine was talking to me about a book he was reading, and referenced the power of assumptions. In the medical field, assumptions have been made to treat certain conditions such as kidney stones. Logically, doctors have assumed that random calcium deposits could be prevented by a low-calcium diet. The downfall came when those patients, who had experienced kidney stones and resorted to a low-calcium diet as prevention, actually produced kidney stones more often than before.
I've had the privilege of having these "epiphany" moments at times. Something like, (as my open palm slaps my forehead) "Darn-it! That makes so much sense! I can't believe I've been doing it wrong this whole time." - and I'm confident that many of you have experienced the same. After several years of investing in my personal growth and having these moments, I started to notice a pattern of strength in the things I was un-learning over the things I was simply learning. I noticed that the things I was un-learning were more detrimental to my success. It was when I un-learned different habits, that I [grew in my self-confidence, became more financially stable, developed better relationships, etc]. In general, I felt more successful, fulfilled, and inspired.
At one point in my career, I was solely focused on learning new things: new sales techniques, reading more books(which isn't necessarily a bad thing), having more assets, having more "tools in my toolbox". I took for granted the assets I already possessed and constantly looked for the "silver bullet" to achieve whatever my goal was at the time. For the better part of the last 3 years, I've begun to focus more on un-learning the "un-success" principles that I had learned - and my life has taken a huge turn for the better.
I won't claim that my cause is the one change that our country needs. But I do believe that it is one of the most important things that could change the way our country operates for the next 50 generations. In order to create the magnitude of change that most of us desire to see in the world we live in, we have to start with our children - the Next Generation. Why not start at the roots of the world we live in? In not too many years, the kids, teens and young adults of the early 2000s will be running companies, influencing our government, and influencing our world as a whole.
Why not raise up successful adults so that they make better decisions than us? So that they are smarter than we are? So that they learn principles that will make them more successful than we are? Why not create a better world for our children and our children's children?
Why not create a foundation for the generations to come so that more people spend their young adult years developing, innovating, and creating?
..Instead of spending energy "un-learning"
Please share your thoughts and opinions on subjects like:
- the current education system?
- major issues that our country faces?
- parenthood in America?
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