Something New Everyday

Monday, September 17, 2007, by Leigh Anne

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Earlier this week I was rereading one of my favorite books, “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield. The book is written in short, stand alone chapters. I have read the entire book before but like to pick it up and just open it up and see where it opens. This week the book opened to a chapter entitled “Commit to constant and never ending improvement” There was a quote by Oliver Cromwell “He who stops being better stops being good”. Jack Canfield writes that “if you make a commitment to learning something new every day, getting just a little bit better every day then eventually – over time – you will reach your goals.” Well, I decided that I was going to focus on learning something new every day this week and I decided to keep a list of what I learned.

Here’s my list.

Monday: The sweet, 80 something year old, mother of a good friend was in town. I had heard my friend talk about the wonderful scones her mother made so I asked if I could come over and see how she made them. The scones were delicious and similar to ones I had made before but I learned some fun tips that I didn’t know. First tip: Always put away each ingredient after you use it – that way if you get interrupted you won’t have to wonder if you put it in yet or not! (I have done this so many times!) Second tip: Always spoon your flour into the measuring cup – don’t scoop. When you scoop you can end up with an extra 2 Tbps. of flour! Lesson Learned: Everyone has something to teach you (especially 80 year old women) even when you think you know how to do something already. If you’d like the recipe for these yummy scones and see what they look like you can visit my family blog at www.thewilkesweek.blogspot.com – scroll down to the bottom of the latest entry to get the recipe.

Tuesday: I had my monthly team leader call. I learned a great tip from one of the leaders on how she is promoting one of our new products with her customers and so did everyone else on the call. Lesson Learned: Take advantage of every opportunity you have to network – learn from you team members, uplines, downlines, sidelines.

Wednesday: Over the years I have worked with a business coach – several different ones. I decided that there were some goals/projects I wanted to accomplish that I was having a hard time getting done on my own. I always felt it was somewhat silly to pay someone to check up on me but I kept feeling prompted to work with a coach again. So I gave them a call and in that first call with the coach they provided me with the solution to something I had been trying to figure out on my own but hadn’t been able to do. Lesson Learned: Even though many times I know what I need to do and I even know how to do it, it is only when I am responsible to someone else, I am being held accountable and I am paying money that I do it!! A different perspective and approach to a situation is helpful too!

Thursday: During a call with a downline I was asked a question I couldn’t answer. After 17 years you would think I would know just about everything about my company – wouldn’t you? – NOT. I told her I didn’t know the answer but that I’d find out. As soon as we hung up I did some investigating and found out the answer – now she and I both know. Lesson Learned: No matter how long you have done something or how much you think you know there is always something you DON’T know.

Friday: I had been wanting to take ballroom dance lessons for the last year or so. In fact several years ago Jim and I took a class through the Community Center which was not a great experience but I felt enough time had passed that he would be willing to try it again. Well, Friday night we went to our first Salsa class. I was a little nervous about it – afraid we would make total fools out of ourselves since our dancing abilities are rather limited! But guess what – we had a great time and there were other people there as bad as we were and maybe even a little worse!! Lesson Learned: Never be afraid to learn something new because you think everyone knows more than you and you’ll look like a fool! There will always be someone who knows less than you do! (and is a worse dancer!)

Saturday: We had some friends call and invite us to go see the Vaux’s swifts – these are little black birds. Each year these birds gather at Chapman Elementary School in NW Portland during the month of September on their way to Central America for the winter. Each evening at sunset they funnel into the chimney of the school – it is quite a sight. So we joined 100’s of other people on the lawn of the school to watch thousands of birds descend into the chimney of the school. Now I have lived in Portland for 26 years and I had NEVER heard about this – and I consider myself pretty informed on “what’s happening” around town! Lesson Learned: Again – there is always something you don’t know about!

Sunday: After spending quite a bit of time typing up this article I left the computer to go take care of something else. When I came back to the computer the article was GONE! Of course – no one at my house had done anything – it just magically disappeared on it’s own. Lesson Learned: Always BACKUP your work!!

I hope by now you can see that the point of all of this is that everyone has something to teach us, we should take advantage of learning from others, that being accountable to someone else can help us get things done (especially if we are paying money) never be afraid to learn something new and there is always something you don’t know!

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