Of Course You Can Learn… But Can You Hang?

Posted by lhobson in Confidence | 0 comments

It is really sad that there are so many people in the world who are afraid to pursue their dreams because they don’t think they are intelligent enough, or educated (skilled) enough. If you are one of those people, LISTEN UP, this one is for you!

Let’s start with “but Dr. Lori I’m not smart enough.” If you look at a random sample of the intelligence of people in the world you will find that, while there are a few who fall into the very high or very low range, the overwhelming majority fall into the average range. What that means is almost all of those successful people that you look up to or aspire to be like are of average intelligence just like you.  Most likely you are already as smart as you need to be.

 But Dr. Lori, I’m not educated (skilled) enough. Of course there are some careers or businesses that require continuing your education and improving certain skills. However there is somebody somewhere teaching everything you need to learn whether you choose to go to college or not.  Also there are grant, student loans, fellowships, and millions of dollars in scholarship money that goes unused every year. If you want more education or skill, you can get more education or skill. And if by some chance nobody is teaching what you need to learn then you can figure it out yourself and build your business teaching it to others.

 But “Dr. Lori, I’ve been out of school for so long.” I will never forget my first doctoral level class. I sat there among my peers, feeling old, bewildered, and completely terrified; thinking “Lori you have not been a student for more than 20 years. You may not be able to learn this stuff.” I was also wondering (seriously) if I had brain damage because we were two hours into an eight-hour class that was moving faster than any class I had ever taken.

 When we got back from our first break my Professor, Dr. John Kellmayer’s very first statement to us was “life will get in your way.” He went on to explain to us us that earning the title Doctor was not just about how well you write, or how much you know or even how well you learn. What he said was “it is primarily a matter of perseverance. Will you persevere when life gets in your way? ”

 When he said that, a light bulb came on in my head and I had a series of thoughts. They went something like this. “You don’t have brain damage. Your brain is just like your muscles when you start using them differently it’s hard at first but it gets easier as you go along.” Next was, “don’t be silly. You learned to get through elementary, middle and high school. You’ve been to college twice before. You can lean this stuff. Finally “this has nothing to do with your ability to learn and everything to do with your ability to hang. CAN YOU HANG? When I realized the answer to that question was yes I was well on my to becoming Dr. Lori.

We will end this conversation with this thought. You already have everything you need to learn what you want to know. The question is this “is it what you really want and CAN YOU HANG?