Some time ago I was sitting in the Detroit airport awaiting the arrival of my plane taking me to Tampa, Florida.
A few people looked over at me cause I laughed out loud thinking of something my 4 year-old, Sophia, told me the other day.
Getting ready for school one morning, I prepared to give Sophia a bit of advice about life and school.
Though my intentions were good, I’m not sure my point was well taken.
“Sophia,” I said, ready to deliver some inspiring words for the day, “learn one thing — just one thing, when you’re at school today and share it with me when we are at dinner tonight.”
“One Thing – -pause – – But Dad, I already know EVERYTHING.”
“Ohh.”
Feeling a bit deflated, I said, “Okay, well, have a good day then sweetheart.”
Four year-olds thinking they know everything is one thing, but when it comes to knowing everything, adults are another.
I think as we grow older, our open minds tend to close little by little in doing things differently. For example, after I played pro football in Germany, I coached for a couple of years. I learned that the older players were resistant to coaching at times. The younger players were very coachable. As a result, the younger ones who were open to change were more successful on the field.
Now not all of the older players were this way, but the majority did have all the answers, or at least pretended to. When you observe extremely successful people they treat everyone they meet as a wise old sage, ready to gain a nugget of wisdom to apply to their own lives.
We have to continually empty our cups in order to take, learn and grow. Reading books, listening to tapes and viewing DVDs are awesome. When you have the chance to hear it directly from source — take it.
This supercedes all other forms of learning.
Why.
I’m fond of a saying I heard just the other day. It is “You’re never to old to learn and never to young to teach.”
Whether you think you know everything about the advertising and marketing your products and services on the Internet or not, I’ll ask that you empty your cup and hear what it is I have to share. It could be the whole difference in the success of your business or not.
And that’s the main reason I always put myself in a position to learn from those who know more about any given topic than I do. I go to seminars and constantly listen to audio and video information products.
The biggest room in the world – is the room for improvement.
Best,
Vince Palko