When was the last time you learned something new? Was it when you were at school or has it been more recent? When did you last take yourself out of your comfort zone and learn something that was unfamiliar to you?
Every year, I set myself the goal of learning new things whether it is through reading books, attending seminars, workshops or by talking to people. For many years I have consumed much new learning about self development, leadership and motivation. I'm passionate about self discovery, overcoming limits and enhancing personal fulfilment. Last year I decided to learn something that I knew absolutely nothing about. I decided to learn about financial planning and investments.To many people this may sound dry and I must admit that I wasn't exactly excited and motivated about the subject matter.
Last May, a close friend invited me to attend a financial investment planning 3 day seminar with her. I joined her to appear willing and keep her company more than anything else. I had no real expectations of the training, apart from that I would go in with an open mind and with a curious hat on. At the end of day 1, I soon realised how little I knew about investing in my future and that my 'seat of the pants', hoping 'all would work out' approach was not the best strategy to have for when I get older. My friend and I got so enraptured about the importance of investments, we decided to understand more about the money markets. We signed up to a weekend's training on Forex / foreign exchange trading and we attended last weekend.
I can safely say that I have never been so confused in all my life! The trainer took us rapidly through a thick, ring bound workbook, 400 pages long that taught us everything we needed to know about Forex trading. Unfortunately, I followed my usual approach to training and did not do any preparation before the workshop. I see myself as a kinaesthetic person who learns by doing and aptly used the excuse that I couldn't prepare beforehand as I had to be taken through the training first to understand anything.
The Forex trainer whizzed us through the notes, as if we were already experts and repeatedly asked 'does that make sense?'. A little voice in my head was saying 'no that doesn't make sense' and the more I thought about it, the more confused I got. The 200 participants who were mostly Asian, were equipped with rulers, calculators and currency charts. As they held their heads down, busily writing the answers to the questions in the manual, I felt that I was in the wrong room.
At the end of the workshop, it felt like I had been read the maunal to fly a plane but nobody had sat down with me in the plane to show me all the controls! When I got home, I re-read the manual and looked through all the charts on my computer to make sense of my new learning.
Although I still have a long way to go until I get to a competent level, my new learning experience has opened my eyes to a whole new world. The next time I talk to a group of traders, I'll have more idea of what they do and may be able to converse with them. I am now learning about a whole new field which is interesting and I do have occasional light bulb moments, even though my head is aching from all the new neuron connections that are being made. I'm pleased with myself to be learning something new and to be out of my comfort zone. It makes me think in new and different ways and as Homer Simpson says "Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain."
It's a good feeling to stretch the brain, create new neurons and get rid of the old stuff. We're never too old to learn something new and it's never too late to learn. Learn something new with our next NoLimits NLP programme:
Great job Janet! Financial planning has always been an area where I have felt dazed and confused ... thank goodness that I have finally found (after several attempts) a financial advisor I am comfortable with. When you have learned how to conquer the money markets, can you let me know? :-)
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