One Page Wonder 120 (Unlimited) Something happened this week that took me back in time, a time when I learnt something new from an 8 year old boy. As we go through life we all learn many skills, some of which we master, however there is always something else to be learnt no matter your skill set. It is when we decide that we know everything that we limit ourselves as people. Thirty years ago I was the senior goalkeeper for a Melbourne based Croatian Soccer club which had a large group of junior teams. As the senior goalkeeper, all of the up and coming keepers look up to you. I spent 2 nights each week and gave personal training to all of the junior goalkeepers, 16 of them. They got 30 minute sessions in pairs each week and their infectious attitude to learning meant all sessions were fantastic. It was a wonderful way to pass on my knowledge of my craft, and at the same time a humbling experience to be part of their growth. One night an 8 year old boy taught me something about goalkeeping that I had never thought of and I could do one of two things – dismiss it, or learn from it. I chose to learn and to this day I can still remember his name, his face and the exercise because I now incorporated that little boy’s idea into my training sessions. I learned a valuable lesson, that you can always learn something new no matter how experienced you are. So the key is to show some humility should new information come your way. How that relates to this week’s OPW is that I did a 2 hour NLP Coaching presentation for a Real Estate company with great results. However there was one person in the room who had predetermined that I was wasting his time. After all, I had never sold a house so what could I teach him? He was an old school salesman who had seen everything. He sat at a table alone away from everybody else, looking disinterested which was fine because by doing so he encouraged me to challenge myself to engage him. He often sat with his arms folded in defiance, which I was very aware of so I was very conscious that when I got to discussing peoples representational systems (how people make decisions-visually, auditory, kinesthetically or auditory digitally) his interest would be gained. This happened because it was something that he would have no idea of and he realized that it may be a beneficial skill to learn. As I explained to the group simply understanding this before you meet people may be the difference between them dealing with you or not. This is an amazing tool to understand in any type of sales. I even broke it down on how to send emails to the different personality categories which is how many businesses operate now. Imagine if you can tailor your language in order to gain instant rapport with a potential client simply by looking at their shoes! Actually that is the starting point to doing good business. I set up my Coaching business and called it ‘The Curiosity Builder’ because being curious about new opportunities can open up the world to you or your business. After all how we do business or operate our life now is very different to how we did it when I was at soccer training that night. I was really happy to present to that group and was grateful that I had an opportunity to find someone challenging. During that part of my session he started to frantically take notes on the information I was giving. No matter how your life pans out if you predetermine the information then you may as well not be there. That 8 year old boy will never know how he affected me that night at training but it was a lesson I have never forgotten. After all in the Wild West the fastest gunman would always meet his match once someone worked out how to do it better. Open your mind, show curiosity and grow to find the skills you require in your life. Have a great week Rodney Tattam 1st December 2013
Posted on: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 22:13:17 +0000
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