Be Teachable

Here’s some career success advice I got from my friend Sam Parker. Sam advises his career success coaching clients to be teachable… “Focus on what you can learn rather than showing what you know. Much of what you know began with the work of someone else.”

This is great career advice. I’m a big believer in the power of lifelong learning. Tweets 81 and 82 in my career success book Success Tweets get to the heart of lifelong learning. “Become a lifelong learner. The half-life of knowledge is rapidly diminishing. Staying in the same place is the same as going backward.” (Tweet 81) “Learn faster than the world changes. In a world that never stops changing, you must continue learning and growing.” (Tweet 82)

If you want to create the life and career success you deserve, you need to become a lifelong learner. The other day, I came across a great quote from Louis L’Amour, the great American writer of stories about the old west. I think this quote captures the essence of lifelong learning…

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”

I know a lot about career and life success. I’ve written several books on it. I give lots of talks about it. I’ve coached hundreds of people – helping them build the life and career success they want and deserve. I write this blog. At one point, I thought I knew it all.

And you know what? Every time I write about life and career success, every time I speak about it, every time I coach someone offering my career advice, I gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to create life and career success

I begin anew every day, doing whatever I can to learn about life and career success so I can pass on this knowledge and wisdom to others. I choose to keep learning. So should you. Pay attention here – this is solid career advice. I’ve learned that if you don’t keep learning, you don’t stand still – you fall behind in the game of life. I’ve also learned that what I learned after I knew it all was some of the best and most important of my learnings.

I try to put Sam Parker’s advice on being teachable to work every day. I engage others in conversation. I listen to what they have to say. I am humble enough to realize that while I know a lot about life and career success, there are lots of people who know just as much – or even more – that I do. That’s why I stay teachable. I read books and blogs. I listen when other experts talk.

Are you teachable, or do you think you know it all? If you think you know it all, go back to the Louis L’Amour quote at the top of this post — “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”

Be teachable. Begin every day with the intent of learning something new and you will be on your way to creating the life and career success you deserve.

The common sense career success point here is simple. Successful people follow the career advice in tweets 81 and in Success Tweets. “Become a lifelong learner. The half-life of knowledge is rapidly diminishing. Staying in the same place is the same as going backward.” (81) “Learn faster than the world changes. In a world that never stops changing, you must continue learning and growing.” (82) Lifelong learning is really important to creating the successful life and career you want and deserve. Treat each new day as an opportunity to learn. Stay open to new people and new ideas. If you do this, you’ll come to realize that you are never finished learning and that what you learn after you know it all is the most valuable knowledge you’ll develop.

That’s my career advice on lifelong learning. What do you do to keep learning and growing? Please share your thoughts with us in a comment. As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success. I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud