A yearning for Learning

As you seek out knowledge, it also seeks you

In a world of possibilities, act on your desire to learn and to gain knowledge. Seek out opportunities to learn, and the outcomes might surprise you!

Today I might be an accomplished C-Suite Executive Assistant with a string of accolades but once, a long time ago, I was a high school dropout who had landed a minimum wage job. I was desperate to change my circumstances and in order to do that, I knew that learning and gaining knowledge in any way I could, was going to help set sail my little ship of possibilities into the mighty sea of opportunities.

This was in the 1990s. The internet was still just a buzzword and telephones were still attached to cords ‘n walls. It was the era of paper and the tangible book reigned supreme in the world of self-learning.

Whenever I wanted to learn something about advancing my future and career, I would go to the library and find books on the subjects I was trying to learn about. My library card was – at one stage in my life – one of my most valuable possessions because it gave me access to free learning. I would take a bus to the big library in Cape Town’s city centre and when I stepped inside it was like floating into a wonderland. I knew that I was guaranteed to find books on any subject that I was seeking: from filing methods to self-care to manners to typing.  I would spend hours pouring over the books; researching and learning, and taking pages and pages of handwritten notes.  

Realising that I needed more practical learning (because reading and books only gets you so far) I began to ask around for training. I would ask and ask.  I got turned away a lot but that never stopped me.

I was desperate to learn more about being a secretary (as was the title in those days) but I could not afford any courses.  I knew only one person who I considered to be adept at administration, mainly because she worked in an office and so I kept bombarding her with questions. Could she teach me how to work in an office? What was the best way to do stock taking ledgers?  Should I use the petty cash book or the vouchers for record-keeping?

After continuing to ask (okay, pestering her) for advice she eventually gave in and agreed to give me free training.
 
She was a chain smoker who’d drink copious cups of coffee with heaped teaspoons of sugar but did not eat anything, which amazed me. Although super skinny, she talked of having to ‘watch her figure’ so we never stopped for any snack breaks.  She was wafted in ‘eau de cigarette smoke’ which seemed to trail behind her and engulf her like a halo.  The halo analogy was appropriate because to me, that woman was like an angel, teaching me all those things for free. But she never stopped smoking. She smoked and smoked and smoked.  With permanently narrowed eyes because of the smoke emissions in front of her face, she’d balance the cigarette in one side of her mouth, talk to me through the other side of her mouth while tipping her head in favour of the cigarette-free side, work the old-fashioned calculator with one hand, be holding the coffee cup with the other hand and she only stopped talking to take a huge puff of her cigarette whenever the ash at the end of it threatened to tip off. Then she’d drag on the cigarette like her life depended on it, tap the thing against the huge 70’s-style glass ashtray on the desk, look at the cigarette ash as it was deposited in the ashtray, and continue teaching me whatever lesson we were doing at the time. I was amazed at what she taught me, but also at her smoking habits, because as soon as one cigarette had reached the end, she’d use it to light up another and continue the cycle!

Cigarette smoke aside, it was an experience that I would never forget. I absorbed what she taught me like a sponge because I knew that it was probably my one and only shot at learning from someone, with some office knowledge, for free at that time.

This experience taught me a most valuable Career Lesson: when you want help to learn then actively seek out that help and act on it

And it is one I would like to share with you today. If you need help with anything in your career, if you feel stuck or need improvement or training, then actively seek out help. This might mean asking your peer group, contacting peer networks or researching training options. But don’t stop there. Take the next step and act on what you would like to do next. And once you have learned what you needed to, then apply that knowledge and use it regularly in your everyday work life. This is how mastery happens: learning, doing, practising and applying that knowledge to improve yourself. Take it one step at a time, but do take that step.

And remember: learning is a process. Enjoy the process and make the most of it!

Yours in learning,

Shana