An Hour to Learn Something New
At one point in my life, I led a group coaching session. There were six of us and on one particular day, we were discussing the importance of having interests outside of our chosen profession. We agreed that to be well-rounded and able to talk with a number of different people, knowing about things other than our own day-to-day is important.
What if you took an hour to learn something new?
One of the men present on this day was trying the group out to see if he wanted to commit to a once-a-month meeting focused at helping him have a more balanced life. He had a hard time grasping the concept of outside interests. What did we mean have interests? How would he find time to be interested in anything beyond work and his family? What difference would it make?
The group had lots to say on the subject and lots of subjects to be interested in. Bird migration, weather development, overseas travel, local history, cooking, antique cars, and wine were a few of the options that the group put out on the table.
“How do you find time to be interested in those things?” was all our one hold out to the concept could contribute.
I suggested to him that he should take one hour and go to a book store he enjoyed and spend one hour there. The only guideline that I gave was that he could not look at any book or periodical that had to do with his particular line of work. Other than that, the entire store was open game.
Oh. And he had to leave his phone in the car for the hour he was in the book store.
No. “No way,” actually was his response. “I can not be without my phone for an hour.”
This busy and successful man, involved in a business that includes sales and customer service, had a personal standard of returning any phone call within one hour. Not a problem, really, with this challenge, because if a phone call came at the moment he walked into the bookstore, in one hour, he could walk out and return that call.
“Well,” he began to soften. “I might be able to do it. I can have my pager with me, right?” (Ha! Those were the days!)
No. Wrong. No pager. No phone.
He left the meeting shaking his head and he never returned. He evidently was convinced that he could not afford one hour to be interested in life outside of his small world.
The rest of us in the coaching group that day left even more convinced of the importance of knowing more about the huge world around us. To make us more knowledgeable and more compassionate and more informed. And to make us more interesting.
For the point of contrast, the husband of a friend of mine once got so completely engrossed at the possibilities for interest at a bookstore that he forgot to go home. He went to town on an errand in the morning, stopped at a favorite bookstore after the errand was completed, and never looked up again until it had grown dark outside and noticed he was hungry. This man is no savvy business man or wealthy salesman. He is a fascinating conversationalist who is full of fact (and fiction) and who is satisfied with a life that allows some down time to think and contemplate and to invest in learning and in relationships.
Another acquaintance of mine is quite successful. An octogenarian who consults with an interesting array of leaders around the world, he reads at least one book a week. He regularly shares the title of a helpful book to his friends and colleagues and clients. His reading is on a variety of subjects, from business and leadership to elk hunting and humor. He makes time for interests outside of business and encourages it in others. It is a practice he has had for over fifty years.
Learning to be a thinker, finding new interests, and even knowing enough about a subject to realize that you are not interested in learning more about it are all parts of staying invested in living life beyond ourselves.
Being aware of more of the world than your own little corner is not an option without balance and wholeness.
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