If it's Worth It- Skills Edition

If it’s worth it, it truly is worth waiting for.

This wisdom has been passed to me through a beautiful lineage of coaches, and as with all these pithy words, has been rediscovered over and over again while living life and using hindsight.

Whilst these can be the most comforting and empowering words you can recite to yourself, and FEEL, when seeking the love of your life or pursuing your dream job, or home, it is also wildly practical when looking at skill accumulation.

If you wanna play and dabble, this isn’t really what we need to hear, but if you want to seriously upskill or learn something completely new, it’s the best way to:

a)       Know you are making the best decision

b)      Have courage to stick with it

I started singing lessons in my mid to late-20s. When I was 13, my mum asked me to choose between karate and singing lessons, because these decisions had to be made in a working-class family of 4 children. I am so very glad I chose karate, and couldn’t even fathom a life without the training, mindset and constant inspiration from my teachers. And running my own dojo from 16 has given me some of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

So back to me being an adult student of singing.

I didn’t give up, but more importantly, I dared to start. When I hear the contrast between how I sounded then and how I sound now, it’s nothing I could have predicted, and I realise I still have NO IDEA how much better I could be. I knew the results would be worth waiting for, because I love singing and writing and music. And jamming with & serenading the people I love is a life dream come true.

In my mid-30s now, I am pursuing new skills and making decisions about the ones that may be the fun ‘dabbling’ and the ones I want to really keep at. Being older is not a consideration. I have at least 65 years left and should certainly apply that way of thinking. The consideration is, what is worth waiting for? What am I willing to be patient with? I also try to steer clear of skills that I would use to boost my self-esteem (even though I recommend skill-building and helping others as the number 1 way to build self-esteem). For example, I could learn to do some exotic dancing to feel sexy, but why not just feel that right now? I can move for fun without perfection. I could learn chess, but I’d rather put my mental exercise into writing, and I know I would probably wanna just look smart. Might dabble, though.

This is really an invitation to anyone who wants to learn something new to consider what would be worth mastering, and then to put the first foot forward. New skills allow you to access a world of joy and experiences that are otherwise out of reach. For example, I have so much more freedom in my song-writing now that I have improved my singing.

And with conscious learning (what do I want to learn, what am I learning, what did I learn?) and with some extra learning tools you can do it in record time. If you ever want to learn these, just ask. Lifelong teacher, after all.

Would you share with me a new skill you would like to learn or something you are so happy you stick with? You will amaze yourself with what is possible.