Choosing to Go Isn’t Easy
They say that when the learner is ready the teacher appears.
I had the privilege of attending a Seth Godin seminarthis week. My closest friends can’t believe I managed to get there.
Getting to a seminar is a problem for me. There are so many seminars, and there’s so little time. I have a problem choosing. I don’t really like to commit my time. I really like learning, but I’m leery of things that look like school.
Learning is task that I do by myself. A seminar is a BIG DEAL — It’s an investment of time and money. I have a whole speech that talks me out of such things. I can call that speech up in a second.
“NO WAY! Can’t afford it. No time. Too much to do. Need to be working, not spending. That would be fun. That would slacking. . . . taking the easy way. Can’t buy folks’ wisdom just ’cause I feel like it.”
What a crock!
It’s a great speech. It’s not a valid argument . . . but it works when want to talk myself out of something. It’s not about time or about slacking. NO WAY, No time is my back door to avoiding something that I feel is risky.
Attending a seminar is saying out loud that I want to learn something.
What if I go and it’s not what I thought? What if I don’t learn anything? What if I fall off my bike?
The answer’s the same to all three questions. But you knew that. I had to learn the hard way. I skipped the seminar on the value of seminars. If had skipped the Seth Godin seminar, I would have missed so much more.