Being Teachable: Are You Teachable?

If someone doesn’t know how to do something, there are at least two things that they can do. Either they can reach out for the guidance that they need to move forward, or they can just accept what is going on and not do anything about it.

This could relate to something that is fairly insignificant, meaning that finding a way to solve this challenge won’t have much of an impact on their life. Then again, this could relate to a big challenge in their life; therefore, solving it will have a big impact on their life.

Stuck

Overlooking a small challenge in their life might not hold them back in any way, but taking the same approach when it comes to a big challenge could result in a very different outcome. It might not be possible for them to move ahead in one area of their life, and, this could end up having a negative effect on other areas.

For one reason or another, something within them is going to be stopping them from reaching out for assistance. They may even believe that reaching out for assistance is a sign of weakness.

A Self-Imposed Prison

Still, this doesn’t mean that they will be aware of this belief, and, if they do see people reach out when they are unable to do something, they could end up criticising them. In addition to putting up with what is not working in their life, they may also try to solve certain challenges by themselves.

At times this may work, but at other times, they may only get so far. Once again, they will prefer to struggle and strain, as opposed to reaching out to someone who will be able to offer them the assistance that they need.

Closed-Off

It could be said that someone like this has too much pride to admit that they can’t do something. This then makes it hard for them to accept that they are not their own island and that it is not possible for them know everything.

Reaching out to others could be seen as a sign that that they are incapable and even a failure. Faulty beliefs such as these are going to cause then to suffer unnecessarily, holding them back when their life could be transformed by reaching out.

A Slightly Different Attitude

If someone like this did end up reaching out, they might not be able to truly put their guard down and to listen. Instead, they could try to come across as though they know it all, even though they haven’t got a clue about what is being spoken about.

So, while this will be a time for them to be humble and to let go of the need to come across as though they know everything, they won’t able to do so. As a result of this, the other person might soon lose their patience and be happy to walk away.

Self-Sabotage

Regardless of whether they realise it or not, they are going to be shooting themselves in the foot by behaving in this manner. To the people who can assist them, it will be clear that one is not teachable.

The information and wisdom that these people have, information and wisdom that could take months or even years off their learning curve, is then going to be unavailable to them. Behaving in this way may protect their ego, but it is not going to do much else.

A Very Different Experience

However, when someone doesn’t believe that reaching out for help means that they are incapable or a failure, it is going to allow them to move forward a lot faster. Behaving in this way will be seen as the sensible thing to do.

No matter how competent someone is in one area of their life, there are likely to be plenty of other areas where it is a very different story. There is then going to be times when one has something to teach another person and times when another person has something to teach them.

Just a Number

Through being open minded and not having the need to know everything, it also won’t bother them how old someone is. Thus, someone could be older or even younger than they are, but that doesn’t mean that one will feel threatened or look down up them.

One will be aware of the fact that people grow at different rates and that age has no bearing on how knowledgeable someone can be when it comes to a certain area. It would be a seen as a big mistake for them to overlook what someone has to say simply because they are older or younger than them.

Taking it all in

Through being able to accept that they are a student of life, no matter how much they know or how old they are, it will allow them to listen to what someone has to say. And, if they don’t understand something, they won’t have trouble asking questions.

It will then be clear to others that one is receptive to what they have to say and that one is willing to learn. Consequently, another person can then be more than happy to assist them in any way that they can.

Awareness

What this illustrates is how important it is for someone to be teachable; that’s if they want to grow and to develop. If one has the right attitude, there are plenty of people in the world who will be happy to share what they know with them.