A Question opens the mind, a statement closes it.
“A Question opens the mind – A statement Closes the mind” Robert Kiyosaki frames this so well.
Education creates a platform where patterns and behaviours are reaffirmed. As we all know, this is partially because schools and universities need to create an environment that enables theory to be taught so that a broad group of people with different learning styles and abilities can move through a process of learning different subjects - usually of historical nature.
Let me just reframe this - I am not saying it is wrong, but it does lead us to form patterns, beliefs and behaviours – some of which creates self-doubt. Doubts about our own ability, independence, and self-creation.
In many ways, it is the reason why we have also have learnt that listening is about “responding”. Just like at school, universities too also encourage us to raise our hand to respond to a question that is being asked. We are all aware of what happens when we question the person supposed to be asking the questions: we are frowned upon. In fact, in my younger years, that would probably have meant a note in a report card that said: “needs to listen to the questions that are asked during class”.
Whilst now it may be encouraged to ask questions, it may be with some caveats.
4 steps to break the mould
Before I go further, I would like to share a belief that I have about listening and the importance of it in understanding! How can we better understand if we do not ask questions? It is the questions that we ask to those speaking that enable us to better frame the context of what we are being told.
As I encourage you to break the mould, I also ask you to reflect on the following tips:
I will ask each of you to back yourselves. No matter where you are in life, be prepared to back yourself. What the masses do is not relevant, it is what you want to do that counts.
Are you prepared to cut your strings to security? Only when you do this will you find solutions. As long as you stay within the confines of safety you will always find a reason to stay in the shadows.
Know why you want to step into your own. If you do not know what drives you, you will flounder in your path forward and revert to old patterns (if not physically it will be mentally and emotionally and this will be debilitating and will prevent you from succeeding).
Always ask yourself “what else?” and “how?”. As Robert so openly advises when you are prepared to ask questions, solutions will be created. But if you refrain from asking yourself these questions, your old habits will surface and the “statements” will come out – holding you back.
Taking charge of yourself and your future
When you are prepared to questions yourself and let go of the strings attached to an employer and the safety that a paycheck brings, you will truly find your inner strengths and your true ability.
Surrounding yourself with people who have walked the path, not under the guise of an employee who has walked part of the journey that you are about to embark on, but the whole journey (and this may mean that you reach out to many people at different stages of your life), will be the new classroom – the new way of learning.
Every lesson is one to be noted as long as you learn from the experience and you do not follow the same patterns again.
As we approach the beginning of a new decade, be deliberate in the steps that you take. Work with purpose and know the end goal. So many people start a journey in life without knowing what the end goal is and whilst they may take or make milestones, it is merely like taking 1 step after the other but not knowing where they will end up – in other words, they leave their destiny in the hands of someone else.
Remember the saying “if it’s meant to be it’s up to me” by William H Johnsen
As the year draws to an end make it count. Each thought, each step and each action, when done collectively, will deliver the outcome you desire.