Pixabay: ‘Narrative’

Fuck Experience, Watch How I Learn

Saying Yes to Yourself

There it is. The LinkedIn job posting you dread clicking on — those beguiling words, “preferred qualifications”, predisposing your ego to the pit of your stomach.

Well, it’s time to give that feeling a backseat because you are going to let yourself breathe.

The first time I’d ever had my identity challenged was in middle school when the same group of 8th graders would throw me over the school fence everyday at lunch because I wasn’t allowed to eat near any of the other kids, being a “terrorist”. 9/11 became the inherent tattoo of my reputation. And, as you can guess, that young boy accepted his circumstance.

Six years later, I professed my indelible love to my high school crush, to which she replied, “I just don’t think of you that way.”

During my senior year while applying to universities, my high school teachers said to me, “make sure to have PLENTY of back up schools”.

In my junior year of college, my pre-medical peers laughed at me for pursuing a minor in Theater, stating it was a waste of time.

For my first medical sales position, I applied with ZERO prior experience for a role that required at least five years of experience. The VP of Sales rejected my resume four times before considering to humor me with a 15 minute face-to-face.

If I had listened to every person who told me I wasn’t enough, that young boy would not have used his adversity to be wholly confident in his own skin. He would not have pushed above what his teachers said to be able to go to his dream school with a major in Neuroscience. He would not have been able to get his dream girl to fall in love with him. And, he sure as hell would not have used his invaluable theater training to convince a healthcare executive that he would be a tremendous asset.

I learned to embrace every part of who I was outside of comfortability. I asked myself, “how do I exploit my vulnerability to realize my trajectory”.

I never once in all those years decided to turn myself off.

Next time you decide to look at something as I don’t know how to fucking do this, I’m not qualified, immediately design how you plan to learn it and choose to do your best. Sure, nine times out of ten you are likely to fail. But, that one time will give you skills that will be applicable for a lifetime.

There’s no greater success than successfully believing your abilities.

“If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you’re not sure you can do it, say yes — then learn how to do it later.” — Richard Branson

Here are some helpful tools to safeguard your learning trajectory

• Actively ask questions. Think about where you are engaging a majority of your time throughout the day. Are you the leader of your progress? Ask yourself what resources am I using to continue learning how to reach where I need to be. Enlisting your current talents to strengthen where you’d like to improve allows for more focused development.
• Anticipate and Avoid. Peter Drucker once said, “Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.” Our environment is a direct reflection of how we adapt. Learning how to anticipate your circumstances, and subsequently avoid recurring negative habits, will heighten your self-awareness and judge when to unlearn and relearn.
• Be your own detective. Discover what you are all about. Learn where and when to say no. Then, diagnose where you need resources. Ask the right questions, in the right sequence, with the right people. Take the time to have quality reflection, so as to feel confident designing your bridge to change. Then, will your customized learning map deliver value clarity.

For those of you who are in a position of leadership, a hiring manager, or a recruiter, ask the following as a character-based benchmark instead of checking a box after the first impression:

1. How has the individual learned to break away from their comfort zone to grow?
2. Where do they think they’ll provide the most value? And why?
3. What are they doing to keep themselves mentally and physically healthy?
4. How do they want you to motivate them to continue learning within your organization? Do you have their best interests in mind or your own?
5. If you don’t know how to do something, how will you learn to do it?

Not only will this process of evaluation effectively broaden the quality of your talent pool, it will naturally maximize where you want to invest in those individuals.

So, whether you are at the peak of your career, or just starting out, focusing on how you learn will invariably keep the doors of opportunity open to you. Hedge your bets on a system built on being supportive, rather than one that promotes cavalier hierarchy.

When you embody authenticity, your vision becomes eternal.

References

Goldsmith, Marshall. Triggers. Crown Business, 2015.

Adler, Lou. Hiring with your Head. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.

Thull, Jeff. Mastering the Complex Sale, 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010.