Tag Archives: Learning

A lesson taught with humor

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 “A lesson taught with humor is a lesson retained.”

– Ruth K. Westheimer, aka “Dr Ruth”, sex therapist

One of the primary reasons I chose to pursue the profession of coaching 20 years ago was because of the considerable shortcomings of other forms of training and development. We all have books, binders, tapes and seminar folders sitting on our shelves that are barely remembered, and collecting dust.

Coaching is all about stickiness and sustainability, where the lessons learned often – in an experiential way – stay with us and become habituated.

Humor, as Dr. Ruth suggests, is a great way to make an idea or experience memorable, sticky and sustainable.

Exercise:

Where can you add a bit – or a bunch – of humor and fun to lessons being shared in both your professional and personal worlds?

Google the phrase “the use of humor to support learning” and see what you learn.

#112: “One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”

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– Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, doctor and writer

Yesterday I attended a barbeque with friends and family. My father, at age 85, attended, as did a little three-and-a-half year old boy named Luka. Luka enrolled my dad and others into playing baseball.

I actually got to see Luka’s mind and abilities expand over the hours – resulting in significant pleasure and joy for everyone there.

Exercise:

How have you embraced the pleasure and joy of learning for yourself, and expanded your world?

What ideas do you have to share with others, to expand their worlds too?

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#108: “Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.”

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– Herman Melville, author

The word “mishap” seems a bit more open to interpretation than other words such as mistakes, errors, and failure. Whichever word you currently use to identify life’s bumps in the road, it is our human ability to interpret these events that makes all the difference.

When we grab the blade of these events, we are stopped, defeated, or overcome. We tend to stay down and never do or try that again.

When we grab the handle, though, we see these events as opportunities to learn from, and improve our life and the world.

Exercise:

What mishaps have occurred recently in your life?

How can you grab the handle, so the lessons you’ve learned will serve you in the future?

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#54: “Remember to pick something up when you fall.”

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– Unknown

We have all heard that experience is the best teacher. Many experiences do not provide us with success on the first attempt. Consider a baby trying to take its first steps, a child learning to read a book or ride a bike, a new leader speaking in public to a large group, learning a new language … the list goes on and on.

Have a “beginner’s mind” and a hunger for the lesson: this offers us the opportunity for value even in adversity.

Exercise:

Where did you fall down today, this week, this month? And what did you pick up when you stumbled?

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“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

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“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

—Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist

Image from Twitter

As humans, we have a unique capacity to think and to interpret our world. In this regard, we are also time travelers: we can envision the beginning of time and the Big Bang all the way to, perhaps, the end of our universe.

Let’s get real for a moment. This is not what we actually do on a daily basis, except for theoretical physicists. We do, however, visit the past often and fortunately or unfortunately, relive it. We often live in the future of possibility and “what if” and lose what’s right in front of us and the “now.”

Exercise:

How can you use the lessons of the past to live a more fulfilling life today?

How can your hopes and dreams for the future help you take action today to realize your tomorrows?

How can you savor each and every moment of today as a glorious bridge between the past and the future?

#41: “If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher…”

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“…I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.”

– Confucius, Chinese philosopher

I have a passion for learning and personal growth. My personal antenna and receiver are often on high alert to the knowledge, wisdom and behavior of others.

One of my favorite questions to ask coaching clients is “how would you describe your best future self?” If they are unclear about the meaning of this question, I often suggest that they identify the qualities of the people they admire – such as integrity, courage, loyalty, and enthusiasm. They can also identify the qualities that they least admire – such as greed, dishonesty, arrogance, and pessimism.

Exercise:

Who are the people that can help you discover and develop your best future self? What are their qualities (good or bad)?

Where can you begin your future journey today?

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#30: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

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– Buddha, spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism

The phrase “perception is reality” seems to suggest that what we perceive, and how we perceive it, makes something real. But what if we simply don’t perceive an issue, a challenge, or a lesson to be learned, simply because it is invisible to us?

As a student, we first must see a situation and determine that there is value, opportunity or benefit. Only then is there the potential to hear the teachers and see how they might assist us in capturing the lesson.

Exercise:

Where are you stopped or stuck in your life? Where are your efforts being thwarted?

To whom could you go with this challenge to determine your readiness and receptivity to the lesson?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your details in the sidebar to the right.

#24: “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”

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– Vernon Sanders Law, Major League Baseball pitcher

My first career was as a school science teacher in Philadelphia. Those who know me know of my passion for learning. What I found through all my education and the process of educating others, was that very few lessons really stuck unless they were combined with some experience, such as a lab experiment.

When we see and hear, and then act on what we learn, we internalize a lesson and it sticks.

Exercise:

What lessons are there to be learned from the day-to-day test you are taking?

What experiences can you initiate to speed up the learning process?

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#15: “The road to success is always under construction.”

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– Lily Tomlin

I live in Michigan, where we joke about having two seasons: winter and construction. How can this pertain to life, where it’s all about learning, growing, and evolving? The aging process and entropy itself are seemingly designed to deconstruct us.

Imagine wearing a t-shirt that says “Under Construction”. What energies must we expend to move forwards instead of backwards? Our minds, our bodies, our communities – and yes, even our roads – can all benefit from putting up the orange barrels and letting the world know we’re under construction.

Exercise

What do you want to build in your life? What roads need to be maintained or created to help you on your way?

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#11: “A man only learns in two ways…”

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“…one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.”

– Will Rogers

I love to learn: it is one of my signature strengths. I take a great interest in the world of blogging and books, because they constantly feed this passion.

A book, for me, can be a source of crystallized wisdom from someone I may have never met, who took the time to share their knowledge, insight and perspective of perhaps many years.

Exercise:

Who are the people in your world (that may not necessarily be smarter) that have much to contribute? Are you committed to having open ears and an open mind, and the desire to learn and to be your personal best?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your email address in the sidebar to the right.