Surround Yourself With People You Can Learn From

I have always been fascinated by smart people. People who know more than I know about the things I am curious about. I seek those people out and many of them are now my friends. Some are super creative, some are very passionate, others can run numbers like nobody's business.

Throughout my career, I have always sought out mentors. I don't think I ever said "will you be my mentor", but we formed bonds over talking through ideas. I am a schemer and dreamer and I love when I can bounce ideas off of people. Some are older than me and some are younger. They are all very influential in my life.

If you want to learn and grow, you have to read like crazy and keep up with trends and the news. You have to be honest and not afraid to give feedback, but even more, you need to accept it. My first supervisory experience was a disaster. I got the job done and looked great because of it, but the team, I was told "hated me". While this came as a shock, I quickly learned to give others choices in assignments, give them all the credit for the work, and always say thank you.

Some of my worst bosses have taught me the best lessons in what not to do. Over the years, I have had to make choices on whether to stay or go. If I stayed, I knew what I was in for, if I left, I needed to learn and grow from the experience.

When I was young and impressionable and being bullied by someone I was training for a higher position than mine, my boss at the time told me to get a tampon and 2 cotton balls and grow a set... for real. While that might not be the advice I give, I will not let anyone push me around. I have learned to stay calm and work through the discomfort.

There are so many people around us that we can learn from. I have learned compassion and understanding working alongside the LGBTQ+ community. I have learned true charity from some of my Christian friends, I have learned that I don't know everything and people are smarter than me, and I have learned that sometimes I am the cool parent, and sometimes I am not.

So the moral of my story is surround yourself with people you can learn from and be willing to teach others in return. You might just learn more than you expected.

Photo by Olav Ahrens R?tne on Unsplash