Many years ago, I trained to become a life coach. I went to conference after conference, took 2 years of tele-classes and put myself “out there” as a budding self-help expert. This was a wonderful time in many ways in that I was immersed in a world where people wanted to live their dreams, help others break through resistance and get sh*t done.
This was also the late 90’s and the fact that I had a website made me look much more experienced than I was. Writing an article every week about how to live better (with titles like “top ten ways to design your destiny” and “ease into effortlessness“), also gave me enough “authority” to speak on the radio, do interviews, and get published in various online venues. It also got me clients, many of whom were intimidating to me, in that their worldly success was far beyond mine. After all, I was still sleeping on a futon held up by milk crates and working as a waitress to cover the rent and my trips to Hawaii.
What was perhaps most enlightening about that time, was that each week, I wrote about what I most wanted to learn, not necessarily what I knew best. I think this tactic is fair, if not the basis of how many of the finest people operate in their professional lives. You may have heard sayings like, “therapist, heal thyself,” “teach what you most want to learn,” because they are truisms. You can teach best what you are still learning, because the spark of curiosity, the focus from struggle, the detailed understanding from troubleshooting, and simple interest can make you connected to the material in a way that ‘expert laurel resting’ cannot.
As an aside, after looking at the waybackmachine.org, I nearly fell over laughing at the spinning gifs. I can hardly believe how hard I tried to sound like I had my act together… I still don’t, but I’m still learning every day.
So, what do YOU most want to learn today?
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