Why do we so often INSIST on the Trial and Error Method of Learning?
Do we need to touch fire with our own hands to know that it will burn our skin?
So today I met with a young man around 33 years of age who has been working in the military since he had left high school and tells me he is approximately 5 years away from retirement?? So first off I was thinking to myself… retirement at 38 years old?? This seems a touch young don’t you think, and besides what do you do when you hit the old age of 38 years old and hang it up? Ok back from this rant…. the reason behind this article is the fact that so often we have ideas and plans for growth and expansion in our lives, whether it is to build a new business, compete in a physical challenge like a marathon, build a better connection with our wives and children, or quite frankly whatever it is that we want for results in our lives that we don’t currently have. This young man took the step that most don’t ever take, and that is that he actually took the time to reach out and ask me if I’d be willing to meet with him to discuss Real Estate, as he understood that I had achieved some of the results that he had envisioned for he and his family. He wanted to create a strong financial safety net for he and his growing family and had an interest in exploring whether real estate would be a path for this vision.
This is not meant to come off as if I’m some sort of Rockefeller dynasty, but my wife and I have managed to build a pretty decent portfolio of assets that produce residual income. We all have 2 options when we envision what we want in our lives, but don’t know the HOW that will get us there….
You see the first step is to have an idea that we want something different than we currently have, and then the next step is to determine HOW we work towards getting the results that we want. This is where we so often get trapped….. if we knew HOW to get these results we would already be getting them. So we have a couple options…..and we can either take our time and experiment based on what we know and then once we get results, we can then make some course corrections and try again.. and then adjust and implement….and so on and so on OR we can find someone who has already ACHIEVED what we want to achieve and begin to follow a recipe. Which of these options is the most efficient?? Of course we all know the answer but why do we insist on the painful and time consuming trial and error method?
It’s uncomfortable to admit that we don’t know something, isn’t it? Especially as MEN we feel as though we are supposed to know all the answers, we are supposed to stand strong, we have been taught to “Plow Ahead” or “Figure it out”… but at what cost? The time it would take me to figure out how to make an amazing Beef Stroganoff if all I had were bags of groceries and no recipe vs having to press play on YouTube and simply follow the instructions would be 10 fold. Why do we insist on doing exactly this when it comes to business, or marriage, or handling Teenagers??
So this article is a quick thank you to the young man who had the courage to simply reach out to me and ask if I’d be willing to meet up with him and chat. I’ve been reminded again how important it is to ask for help and guidance from those who are achieving the results we want in our own lives. We only have a very finite amount of time here and in order for us to grow and expand our lives, we need to learn from others who have failed before us so that we can make different mistakes and build new trails.
Where in your life do you need to ask someone for assistance that is living with the results that you want for you and your family inside of your Body, Spirituality, Family or Business?
