Humility is the Main Ingredient in Learning

Humility is the Main Ingredient in Learning

Willingness to learn from others advances well-being.

As individuals, we have biases and blind spots. We need to acknowledge this fact.

Once we do, we realize that others may possess expertise where we are deficient. This realization allows us to approach others with the humility necessary to learn from them.

This is something I love about podcasts (not just my podcast, but the podcasting movement in general). Podcasting allows those with a willingness to learn and grow access to other people with knowledge to share at scale.

I also believe it’s important to fight the urge to portray an image like we have it all figured out. This urge arises in part from pride and a desire to convey status/social position to our fellow human beings.

If we lean into this longing, we put a blockade around our future growth.

Pride can show up in our lives at any point. Even if much of the success we’ve achieved came about from humility and the willingness to learn. We must remain vigilant to fend off the desire to act like we have it all figured out.

Another weapon we have against pride is accepting people no matter where they are at in their journey or how much they know. Sometimes we talk down to people who may know less than us about a certain subject. This can cause people to hide questions they may have to avoid feeling unintelligent.

Cultivating an environment where questions and curiosity are welcome is a necessity to growth and improvement.

I think creating an environment where learning is fostered is something my industry is awful at. Financial professionals have a bad reputation for talking over their clients’ heads, using too much jargon, and not taking the necessary time to cultivate understanding with their clients.

Such practices do not foster financial well-being in people. One of my goals is to make education a pillar of my financial advisory business. Personal finance is rarely taught in schools and misperceptions of sound financial planning strategies are pervasive in our culture.

Therefore, I strive to meet people where they are and provide education, guidance, and understanding.

A client/financial professional relationship is a two-way street. To truly get the most out of a meeting with a financial professional, a client must be willing to learn and not put up a guise like they have it all figured out. Someone that already knows everything cannot be taught.

At the end of the day, we need to remove the hierarchy from learning. If both the teacher and student approach the relationship with humility, the outcome will be better for all parties involved.

Do you want to experience financial well-being and start financially thriving? Book a financial well-being lab session on my calendar here:

BOOK SESSION HERE

The only cost is your time and there is no obligation.