Fire to Inspire

I have just been reading an email newsletter from a site I subscribe to: The Science of Getting Rich NETwork. As I write that down (like a coming OUT story) I imagine that I invite ridicule or dismissive comments from anyone who is reading this. I have exposed my under-belly (and believe me, there is more of that than I'm proud of).

The Science of Getting Rich website, however, fits my experience of how our destinies are controlled by the words our minds (the inner voices) speak to us and especially the words we speak out loud. Note how the inner voice spoke to me when I began writing that first paragraph. It told me that anyone who read those first words would dismiss or ridicule what I said. That's one of the reasons I'm not Bill Gates or Robert Kiyosaki, I'm constantly vetting what I say and do and write. I don't want people to think I'm a crank or silly or gullible.

So how does that relate to training?

Well, in this week's Science of Getting Rich newsletter, Rebecca Fine quotes American author and humorist Mark Twain who said, "I can show anyone how to get what they want. The only trouble is I can't find anyone who can tell me what they want." And then Rebecca goes on to say: "If you don't know -- can't articulate clearly and specifically what it is you really want to be, do, and have; what lights your fire; what it is you'd love to spend your time doing if you could be doing absolutely ANYTHING -- then it's because you don't really know ... who you are."

If at my age I find myself facing those moments of self-doubt and lack of focus, how come I expect younger people to risk focusing on 'what lights (their) fire'? How many young people fall into a career because they trip over it, rather than focusing on what lights their fire? How can they, with little life experience, know what might light their fire?

When young trainees come into a course, often they come because Mum or Dad says it would be a good career to get into. Or they might be on it in order to get a training allowance - the Government says it would be good for them to do. And we expect them to be fully engaged in the course!

Wallace Wattles, who inspired the website The Science of Getting Rich through his book of the same name, said that it doesn't take a lot of energy or will power to keep your mind fixed on something that really grabs you, but that it's VERY difficult to stay focused positively on what you DON'T really want. A career that you fall into is rarely one that fires your soul.

Wouldn't it be great to have a pre-enrollment course called: Seize the Day Your Way, or: Map Your Life in Joy, or: Light Your Mind's Fire? Unfortunately most training establishments rely on student numbers and/or government subsidies. I think they'd have a problem convincing the funders or their accountants that a course supporting young people to find their inner fire would pay its way.

Courses that focus on 'marketable' skills, that in turn slot the participants/trainees into a job, do enhance the bank balance, but the benefit of happy people in careers that inspire them is immeasurable. Imagine if trainers were faced with a group of participants who were already fired up about their new careers? Imagine the dialogues and monumental leaps that would happen in such a group? Can you see how they'd virtually teach themselves as they interacted with the trainer, the new knowledge and their search for answers to questions? It gives me goose-bumps to think about it.

Trainers try to enthuse trainees but are, in turn, chipped away by trainee reluctance and lack of enthusiasm. Hearing constant negativity fuels the negative inner voice. Part of trainee/student negativity stems from their life-stage where training for a skill or career is sensed as the establishment inevitably forcing them to conform. Another critical part is their total lack of knowing themselves as distinct from the group, of knowing who THEY are and what lights their fire.

It's a daunting task - being a trainer. You have to KNOW in your very soul that this is where your fire burns. Otherwise you're just going to be extinguished.

Shouting in the dark

Are you someone who likes to talk and debate? Do you like the thrust and argument of politics? Or do you simply enjoy hearing other people's opinions on topics that rock the world?

In our fast paced lives these days, often the longest debate will occur on the sideline of our children's or grandchildren's sports matches. Then it is often more to do with the fairness of the ref's last decision than anything world shattering. We just don't have the time to devote to well-delivered argument. Yet this skill is one that should be well honed before teenagers arrive in adulthood. Not that an argumentative teen is the best example of logical debate, but the skill is vital once they get to working age. Listening with logic and presenting a well-reasoned debate will enable businesses to take up bright ideas and move into new ways of doing things. The more staff with these skills the better.

What we still tend to do is believe we have to fill heads with knowledge. Take a look at social blogging and messaging sites and you quickly realise that the skills of natural skepticism and internal debate will help navigate through the snippets of conversation and lottery of links to find information of real value.

The speed of knowledge

Have you come across this? It perfectly sums up why training and education has to be ongoing throughout life ...
Did You Know?
The video also illustrates why we can never hope to keep ahead of what there is to know. Instead of trying to cram knowledge, we would be better to teach skills on how to recover knowledge, or where to go to find out more Just In Time for when we need it.

Another skill becoming increasingly necessary in our ever changing world,is critical thinking: 'How do I know what I find can be trusted?' That's a skill trainers will find difficult to pass on, because in an increasingly complex world we meet people in virtual environments and research purchases through simulations and snippets of information. Your trainees will go into those environments and later make decisions that impact on their workplaces. Critical thinking is vital in business but if you're working in a virtual environment - what is real?