As we learn and grow, there is always room for more.
How can we say or believe that we can’t learn one more thing?
Living requires that we learn more. If we are aware that learning is a necessity we can choose to engage positively in our personal growth versus experiencing the school of hard knocks. Here are a few ways to be smart about our learning and growing.
Think.
Spend more time thinking. Think harder instead of working harder. Take some courses in problem solving techniques, or being creative in order to see alternative ways of doing and thinking.
When something new or interesting comes your way, ask “how” you can make it happen not “if” you can make it happen.
What would you do, what could you do, if you believed you could not fail? Asking yourself how you can make your dreams come to life enriches your opportunities for growth. The more we grow the more we can grow. Ask how.
Realize that there is always more than one way to get there.
I’m always reminded of my father-in-law’s desire to hike in the Swiss Alps after he retired. Lack of finances did not deter him. He organized and guided a tour of family and friends to finance his wish. This idea was so successful that he organized eight trips over the years. He understood there was more than one way to get to Lauterbrunnen.
Do it.
Only those who aren’t not doing anything are mistake free. We only learn by doing what we don’t know how to do. Jump in and do it. You’ll learn.
Figure out what is truly important to you.
I used to say that I loved to swim. But when I looked at my daily, weekly and monthly calendar there was no time allotted to swimming. I realized that perhaps I didn’t really love swimming as much as I professed, since I didn’t do it. Or perhaps I needed to find some time on a regular basis to get in the water. When I got clear about what was important to me, I found the time to make it happen. Which helped make the next idea obvious.
You can only get better at what you do everyday.
Important activities require your attention daily, and that requires a commitment to doing them. Once we get started in the direction of our dreams, what is important, what is necessary seems to find its way to us. Once we create clarity about what is important, it is easy to shed the unimportant and unnecessary portions of our lives.
Being clear what is important allows us to go the extra mile, to do more than expected, to do more than we thought we could do. Once we get into the habit of striving for excellence, our capacity to learn and grow expands in unexpected ways.
We can choose to change and grow to be the person of our dreams and to live the life of our dreams.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful quality to model to our children, that there is always room for more?
