Learning new things forces you to be humble and helps you understand how your expectations for those you teach may be unrealistically high.
A friend of mine is an avid fisherman. “Avid” is not a strong enough word. Fred knows the rivers of western Oregon well. His mother was an excellent fisherwoman.
Fred has taken me salmon fishing on the Rogue River three or four times a year over the past few years. It is always wonderful to be on the water early in the day, watching the sun come up. I have become a halfway decent salmon fisherman. Learning the needed skills took several trips, though. The first several trips made me feel like a stranger in a strange land. It was good to get over the hump eventually.
A couple of weeks ago, Fred took me steelhead fishing on the South Umqua River. It was a crisp, clear day. Fred had told me about this great guide he had taken several trips with, Danny, and he was our guide for the day. Danny was great. He is a very patient person who cares about the ongoing health of the rivers and our environment in general.
The challenge for all of us—Danny, Fred, and me—was that I had to learn a different fishing technique. The goal was to cast and hit a specific area relative to the drift of the boat.
Suffice it to say I was not good at it. I just could not get the consistent hang of it. Sometimes I did well, but most of the time I did not. Everyone was frustrated while still being patient with me. I felt humbled.
It’s not often that we put ourselves in the position of learning something new. And when I do, I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself.
The good thing about learning something new is it forces you to be humble. That makes it easier to understand how your high expectations for those you teach are, often, unrealistically high.
In hindsight, we realized that it would have been best to do some practice casting before setting out to fish so I could get a better understanding of what casting well looked like before being on the river with other boats.
Slowing down the learning process can reduce stress and make it easier for the student to learn. I couldn’t help thinking of when my wife and I had our remodeling company and we had an employee learning something new. It seemed so obvious to me how straightforward the task was. What I had to come to terms with was that we all learn differently and at different paces. And that unrealistic expectations on the part of the student and/or the teacher create frustration for everyone.
We did catch fish, which was exciting and satisfying. I look forward to putting into play what little I did learn on our next trip.
In the meantime, I once again was reminded that learning new things is good for me as a person and a consultant. After all, it is good to be humbled once in a while.