This week I want to talk about how exploring the world and ourselves can really help you be more successful in life and in your career.
And the reason why this is an important topic, is because oftentimes it’s easy for us to get kind of in the lane. Staying in the lane of our life, our work, how we’ve always done things. But when we start to expand our capability to learn, to experience new places, new things, to try new things, to read and find new information and perspective.
What I found is that it really is enlightening and it opens up our capacity to be both empathetic, to obviously learn new things, knowledge and skills, which is what we want to always do. To be a student of the world and our craft. But also I found that when we don’t just laser focus on being the best that we can be, at our given job or our career, our business, which again is important. But when we’re not simply laser-focused on that, it actually helps us be more successful and more circumspect in everything.
Because I’m a firm believer. I was raised this way for my parents who were both, uh, academics. My father actually head of a library system at the college I went to, Syracuse University. And my mom was a curator.
They instilled in me at an early age to never stop learning and exploring
Don’t view education as something formal, like you just go through a degree program and you get a credential. Always be searching for truth. Always be looking for new ways of thinking about the world around you. Seeking different opinions, perspectives, understanding different vantage points and backgrounds. And when we do that, when we’re not laser focused, again, just skill development in our niche or our job. It helps us be more successful at our job because now we can not just be a master of our niche or our job, we can start to be an expert in our industry.
We can start to elevate our position as a thought leader. We can start to lean in to being more of an intentional leader. Now, one that is well-rounded, one that is well-read and hopefully post pandemic, eventually one that is more well-traveled. And so for me, I’m always searching new experiences. I love to travel the world. I love to experience new cultures and I really love to read, I’m a prolific reader. I read about four to five books a month.
Actually, I’ve already read eight this year in January, and it’s now the 1st of February. So that’s like a record between listening on audible because I travel a lot in the car at the gym or wherever, to mostly consuming content on my Kindle too, because that’s easy. It fits in my briefcase, is really helpful because now I can listen and read an array of different topics.
I’d say 50 to 60% of what I read is in the space of personal development and self-help. I mean, that’s my business, right? And I’d say the other 40 or 50% is in the areas of history, creative nonfiction, current events, markets, things like that. And what I’ve found is by taking my proportion and balancing it more, it’s allowed me to actually be more creative, to spur more ideas, to help me think about things, my business and the world around me in current events and culture a little bit differently.
And so when we do that, when we explore ourselves, when we explore the lives of others. And when we travel and see new things and new perspectives, it really opens up our eyes.
It helps us become more patient, more empathetic, more understanding, better listeners and better students and leaders.
Now, this is what I’ve found in my experience. I hope you agree with that. If you don’t, that’s fine too. And if you haven’t tried this, try it for a little bit, try to change the proportion of what you read. The sources of your news, how you’re consuming content around you, what amount of fiction versus nonfiction you’re reading and see what it does.
Because I’ve seen a dramatic effect by doing that, by expanding out, by exploring other topics, other areas, other peoples and other cultures to really be more successful and more well-rounded in my life and in my career.
So I hope this was a benefit in some way or shape. You know, I love to come to you each week, give you a couple of things that I’m thinking, about talking about, what’s working in life to again, inspire, equip, and help you achieve new levels. In your life and your career achieve a different broader understanding, and hopefully motivate you in some way or inspire you in some way. So thanks so much to your success, your freedom and your happiness as always. We’ll talk to you next week.