Morning!
QUICK! CONFESS TO ME THE FOLLOWING!!
- Ever get an insane desire to look more clueless than an preschooler who stumbles in on an Advanced Calculus class?
Or better yet!
- Ever want to experience the ultimate of humiliation by showing quite how much you don’t know….ideally in a situation where it will be spread faster than honeybees zooming to fully-flowering field?
Hmmmm?
Alright, alright, I suppose I should really give some background to this question. You see, it all started on a dark, stormy night when the unrelenting advancing hordes of undead demonic starfish were slowly slithering up the frozen battlefront walls and
Oops, ‘sorry ’bout that – that’s from my kids’ latest fanfic writings about World of Warcraft. Let me begin again.
(ahem)
It all started earlier today, when Honorable Daughter II came to me and gently asked,:
"Mom, can you please
give me everything I want so I don’t have to do a smidgen of EEEK work and can lounge around eating potato chips and then don’t have to waste time learning valuable life skills and instead can leech off of my parents for the next 25 years andteach me how to make money with my blog?"
You see, Honorable Daughter I has recently changed her blog’s focus, and HDII has finally bought the clue that:
Jeepers Mom! If I make my own money with my own blog, I can buy my own shuriken and bokken and …. and …. all sorts of goodies like that! Wheee!
But then…an opportunity flourished with all the style and grace of an elephant trying (and failing) to stand headfirst on a ripe pineapple without making a dent! HD2 has a weeee bit of an, ahem…..ego? and hates to lose face by admitting what she doesn’t know. After all, people might think she’s foolish or dumber than herd of stampeding fossilized clams or….
Get the picture?
These things happen, of course. I’m kinda sorta bemused by how often they happen, mind you, as I reiterated what I’m about to reveal several times in the past….I guess it’s something you need to learn more than once.
And it’s this:
The dumbest blogging question you can ask….is the one you’re afraid to.
Think about it. What’s so wrong about admitting you want to learn…and asking for help? There’s tons of areas in which I’m more of a student than your local grammar school population times 2…but…
If I let my admittedly large ego or (or lack of self-confidence or embarrassment or…. you get the idea) get in the way of asking questions, I’d smash any possible future learning into teeny tiny non-existent bits!
Everyone was a beginner at one time! I’m pretty certain that Lorelle or Darren or Chris or Liz (I know I sure wasn’t!) wasn’t born clutching a how-to template for installing WordPress; even the masters and probloggers and leading thinkers in ANY area started as a brand-new wet-behind-the-ears beginner.
Guaranteed.
Let’s now turn the focus of this post back to the most important person in the world – you!
Have you ever wanted to learn something new…yet were afraid to ask?
If so, I’d like you to consider just what you’re losing by giving into that fear.
You’re losing the opportunity to learn…to grow…to gain critical knowledge that one day might be the sheerest difference between future success and failure for you.
Now, flap my earlobes and call me Dumbo, but I believe in my heart that you’re worth far more than that!
Wouldn’t you agree?
Thus…the next time your little voice or your ego or your fear or your humbleness or whatever it is that is pushing you away from the path of greatness tries to stomp on your desires flat…..take a deep breath, square your shoulders and tell yourself:
Hey! I have an opportunity to learn from the best…how ON EARTH can I pass that up?
When put into THAT perspective, it’s amazing how much more confident you’ll become. Remember…the journey to more knowledge and wisdom starts with a single step.
But it’s up to you to muster forth the courage and begin.
Enjoy,
Barbara Ling
Like this post? Please feel free to tell your friends and Digg It – I very much appreciate your time!
ps – speaking about courage:
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Ha! My problem is that I forget the dumb question before I can ask it. Of course, this all goes in line with “the dumbest question is the one that is never ask” philosophy.
But I swear, if someone asks me why the sky is blue or the grass is green, I’m not going to answer!
RT Cunningham’s last blog post..I’m Being Reclusive, Not Antisocial
But the answer to that is so profound! The sky is blue because if it was green, you wouldn’t know when to stop mowing.
Best wishes,
Barbara
I confess! Guilty……………………now that I got that off my chest……….I feel so much better!
Character building is ageless and timeless.
Birgit’s last blog post..Show and Tell………………….
Tell me about it. That’s one reason why I really enjoy teaching – you can give away the full measure of your knowledge and yet still retain it to pass on to others.
Enjoy,
Barbara
Barbara Ling’s last blog post..Camp Ling, Week 1 Day 4 – When Reality Drops In Unannounced
Hi Barbara,
So true that the dumbest question is the one not asked. So many of do not reach our full potential because we do not ask questions…..or not take the time to think of them in the first place.
This is the same for ‘lurkers’ in forums not participating for the fear of looking silly. But isn’t that why we join forums… to learn and develop new relationships. If they took the step they may be helping someone else who was not willing to take the first step…. just hoping someone else would be braver.
Knowledge brings confidence…. all you have to do is take baby steps.
Gaida’s last blog post..Fundraiser World Rowing U23 Championships To Represent Australia
Hi Gaida!
I completely agree. Back when I was first starting out, we used newsgroups to network and teach ourselves – I vividly remember solving a sendmail question back in 1994 via this technique. I didn’t care that I looked clueless, I just wanted help! And help came in abundance.
Enjoy, Barbara
I’ll own up to one of those people who asks lots of questions, but I think I must be asking the wrong questions because I’m still not getting it right.
Mitch’s last blog post..Can A Niche Be Too Defined?
Don’t think of “not getting it wrong” – instead, you’re not getting it absolutely wrong.
Curiousity is the only way we get truly sparked to learn….
Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
Barbara
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach’s last blog post..The one CRITICAL mistake many affiliate marketers make