I am willing to try just about anything. I wasn’t always this way. For a decent chunk of my youth, I was insecure and shy. But even then, my desire for something different pushed me to take risks. It’s why I was able to have girlfriends. It’s what enabled me to join a Division I wrestling team with no wrestling experience and later build a career in sales.
I’ve learned so many things over the course of 53 years from academics to home repair to finances to painting to music. Now I realize that it’s not only end result that I love. I am addicted to learning. That’s why I am constantly looking for the next project or challenge to take on. (I’ve been thinking about learning to speak Spanish or French lately).
Many people do not share this addiction to learning. I’m surprised when people deliberately choose to remain ignorant. It’s a complacency akin to “anti-learning”. Below are some examples of what they say to me:
- I can’t figure out how to reset my car clock, the manual is too hard to follow so I just mentally adjust by adding an hour in my head during daylight savings time
- I’m not good at math so I don’t ________. (Fill in the blank: Do my taxes. Balance my checking account. Pay my bills on time.)
- I don’t understand why I can’t lose weight.
- I just want to take a pill to ________. (Fill in the blank: Make me happy. Make me fit. Lose weight. Solve my problems.)
- I can’t figure that out – that’s why I hire a professional to do it. (This can be anything from trimming a bush to replacing a doorknob to choosing a retirement plan).
Most problems that we deal with in everyday aren’t overly complex. Before the Internet, I used to figure out how to repair broken items using the Ainslie stare method.
If I just stare at something for long enough, I can usually figure why it isn’t working and how to repair it.
With YouTube and the Internet, I often don’t need to resort to this method, although I still use it when my situation doesn’t map identically to the online instructions.
If you’ve settled for mediocrity, stasis, or atrophy you are just one action away from change. Give it a shot.