What Are You Willing to Learn and Unlearn?

“It is better to learn late than never.”
~Publilius Syrus – First Century BC, Maxim 864

Reflect on this: What are you willing to teach yourself about yourself to realize your unlimited potential?

Oftentimes, what we believe we aren’t capable of doing is someone else’s beliefs about us that we have adopted as being true for ourselves.

If an individual is constantly being told they can’t do something, it’s likely they will start believing it themselves.

What have you been told about yourself, others, or about life (in general) that has now become a fear that you avoid?

Always be willing to let go of some lessons that no longer serve you.

Allow me to share with you an experience of mine to illustrate my point.

As a student, I was never too fund of learning. It wasn’t that the work was too hard, or that I was too stupid to get the lesson being taught.

I simply didn’t have anyone around me who believed in me enough to encourage me to do any better.

Now, I’m certainly not pointing any blame towards them, because many of them hadn’t been taught to uncover their own potential.

And life has certainly instilled into me that we can only do better than we know to do.

I would be the only one of my mother’s three sons to acquire my high school diploma.

However, it was only by God’s grace, both of my grandmothers’ attention and support, and an inner determination to get out of the small town I was from, that I narrowly graduated. Otherwise, I would no doubt have still been there.

In fact, I often recall a visit I made to my high school counselor to inquire what I must do to get into college. She would look at me as if I had told her a joke that didn’t make much sense and say to me, “If I were you, I would just make it out of high school. Then I would try to get a local job at one of the factories here in town.”

Her advice crushed me that day. So I would never give any more effort to learning than need be.

As an adult, luckily, I’ve had many experiences that have proved that guidance counselor wrong.

I left the small town I’m from shortly after I graduated, and have had several careers (Navy and flight attendant to name a couple) that someone of my “learning capacity” certainly shouldn’t have been able to experience. Not only was I able to get those experiences, but I’ve had the opportunity to travel to several other countries, and I’ve visited every state in the great US of A, except for two (Hawaii and Alaska).

My point is this:

• Be extremely mindful of the limitations you place on yourself based on what others think you’re capable of doing.
• Give yourself more credit than others are willing and sometimes able to offer you.
• If need be, teach yourself what you don’t know by taking the time to invest in yourself. Read… Read… Read.

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” ~Proverbs

It’s never too late to learn, or unlearn, a new trick that will unlock your limitlessness.

Over to you…

Please leave me your thoughts, impressions, and insights for today’s Reflections. I encourage you to share them in the comment section below. 

Let’s sharpen one another. 

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Tagged as: get understanding, get wisdom, teach yourself, unlearn, willing to