When you realize you don’t know much of anything, you might have it.
Knowledge is: knowing that beer and pizza are amazing together.
Wisdom is: knowing that a pizza and beer smoothie is a bad idea.
The school of life teaches you lessons and those lessons are experience. If you listen and learn from it, that becomes wisdom. There has been a lot of wisdom to be gained the past six months, if you listened. The joy of youth is unbridled enthusiasm and ignorance. Today’s young adults – that’s you millennials - are smarter than ever, they are well travelled, well educated, heavily “informed” although the sources are suspect and technologically advanced. They have, as a rule started their independence much later in life. I recall when I fit that mold too. I would say I was a blend of energy, ignorance, perspective and my environment.
I grew up in a poor community, with drug dealers, thieves and bike gangs in our neighborhood. My perspective originated in humility…but that quickly gave way to hubris as I rose above my neighborhood peers, and thought I was pretty hot shit. Until life shared its hard lessons following which my own beginnings of raising a family further humbled me. As the years progress, you realize just how little you know…yet the spectrum of learning is still wider than your purview. When life shares its lessons with you, you will grow. Today’s millennials are beginning to experience that.
Yoda once said – “In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.”
I look at my life of starts and stops, successes and failures, joy and sorrow. The experiences I have enjoyed along the way continue to reveal more which I did not know than I did. It wasn’t until that last couple years of my life that I really understood my value to others. Ironically it was the time when I humbly and respectfully admitted that I still had a world of knowledge to gain and only half a life left to learn it.
As Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid wisely shared with Daniel,
"You trust the quality of what you know, not quantity."
This year, for the first time, I realized that while I had been some kind of teacher or a coach for most of my life that it was only now that I had the wisdom to be a guide and a mentor. I serve mid-career entrepreneur business owners and think there is great benefit in those relationships. One reason for this is that I am constantly working to learn more and be a better resource for those I guide. It never stops. There are three decades of experience, skill and knowledge I bring to the table, but it never really feels like it is enough.
Some people ask me what makes a good coach. If anything, I would say wisdom…but of course I only got there when I realized I did not know.
So, then they ask “how will they know who to trust to coach them”?
I respond with the immortal words of Mr. Miyagi,
"Never trust spiritual leader who cannot dance."
Those that have gone before, who lived and learned can help. If you are a mid-career entrepreneur owner struggling to make your impact and want a great business and fulfilling life, then my small group coaching and one-on-one coaching could be right for you.
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