I am always on the prowl for new stories. The funny ones. The inspiring ones. Stories that I can learn from. Stories that I can retell in my own speaking engagements. More importantly, stories that makes me think about myself and challenge me to become better at what I do. The good thing about being in the co-op sector is that almost all material I gather are relevant to them.
That is why I make the most of every conversation with other people no matter who they may be. While talking with people, I usually let them talk and I just listen. I learn from them without them knowing it. Of course, I filter what is beneficial and discard the rest. It’s like a miner screening some precious metal from the mud. In Facebook alone, I already gathered hundreds of quotations, sayings and proverbs that I find interesting and stored them somewhere. I don’t just scroll and waste my time in social media. I make it productive.
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There is something good when we are open to new learning and be expectant about what lessons we can receive today. You get to extract nuggets of wisdom while conversing with ordinary folks and not only from the discussion of experts. Sometimes, the good stuff are not found in a formal lecture but from the experiences of people and yourself. You will be surprised to find out how much information you can gather if you take time to process the conversations you had with your friend you met in the sidewalk or while you watch shows on TV or when you read the newspaper. I’m talking about the beneficial information for your betterment as a person.
There are people who are natural teachers. They willingly share their knowledge even without asking from them. So, I take advantage of those opportunities. I have a ready pen and paper with me because in the past, I have been relying a lot on my memory which a lot of times became unreliable. Sooner or later I forgot what I thought I stored somewhere in my brain. It is difficult to retrieve something once it flew out of your mind.
This is how I continue to learn to upgrade myself. No one has a monopoly of knowledge as they say. I learn from others. I cannot say I am better than others. We go through different experiences so we have different perspective on things. That is why we need to learn from each other. Believe it or not, I even write down good dialogues I read in novels or I hear on movies.
I believe we all have learned something from this pandemic. I believe, you put those previous months into good use. I hope we became productive. I hope we learned a new skill or honed them. I hope we did some reflection and thought about what we should do with our lives. I hope we all know now what we should prioritize when this is over.
Let us learn from life. It is always teaching us. This pandemic showed us that we need to spend time doing self-assessment and see where we can improve on or what part of our lives we need to let go off.
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