I'm Still Learning

Michelangelo Buonarroti is arguably one of the most intelligent brains that has ever walked the earth. He was a sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and I dare add, a leader. He never for once took his status for granted. His words at age 87, two (2) years before his death, were "Ancora imparo" ("I am still learning").

What was Michelangelo still learning at the more than ripe age of 87, after all his achievements? The wise keeps learning and growing, even to their dying day, because they understands knowledge is always in part. There is always something more to learn and room to grow. What worked yesterday, might not necessarily work today. The cheese is always moving.

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." (William Shakespeare) The fool pars because he supposes himself to have arrived. Unknown to him, the cheese is always moving. One season follows after another like night and day follow each other. Nothing is constant. Everything is in a state of flux.

"Those who keep learning will keep rising in life." (Charlie Munger) Continuous learning and personal growth create a permanent advantage in life and career. Growth requires active flexibility, continuous learning, and letting go of old paradigms that no longer serve the current environment.

Are you still Learning? Are you a Leader or pretending to be one?

The Saint.

In this series:

Here to Win.

Here to Win:

Here to Win: 

The story is told of a farmer, whose farm someone was appreciating as a handiwork of God. The farmer replied, "You should have seen the farm when God had it to himself." I know that might sound somehow to religious folks, but there is much wisdom in the farmer's reply.

You ought to have seen gold or crude oil before they are refined. Opportunities hide in work clothes. That is why a lot of people are poor and impoverished. They are looking for finished products. They have a sense of entitlement as to how things ought to be and get to them.

The 97% forget why they were not given an empty skull. They assume themselves lower animals, only reacting to instincts and supposed "acts of God." They refuse to move out of the "dark ages" into the "age of knowledge and reason." They are still looking for who to blame, while refusing to accept the truth "their cheese has moved."

We are here on an adventure to conquer. We are no incidents of nature or creation. We are here to leave our own definite marks on the sands of time and civilization. We are here to live to the highest and greatest expression of all we were created to be.

This requires occupying our own corner of the wood; taking responsibility for all that is in our charge, control, and influence. It is not moaning and groaning about the things that are outside our charge, control, and influence. That is what dead people do.

We are alive. So, let us show it. Let us live it. Let's leave an enduring legacy along our path.

The Saint.

In this series:

Touched by a Leader.

I'm Still Learning.

Book Club with The Saint | The Gold Mine Effect | Chapter Five: Mindset | Part Five.

#bookclubwiththesaint #thegoldmineeffect #highperformance #mindset

Welcome to our Book Club. So glad to have you join us. 

We will be having our fifth reading of Chapter Five of our Eighth Featured Book, "The Gold Mine Effect: Crack the Secrets of High Performance," by Rasmus Ankersen. The title of Chapter Five is "Success is About Mindset, not Facilities." Our life is what our Mind Makes it. We can only win the War Without after we have won the War Within, the ownership of our Mind.

Get yourself a seat, tighten your belt, and let us take flight. 

The Saint.

Book Club with The Saint | The Gold Mine Effect | Chapter Five: Mindset | Part Four.

#bookclubwiththesaint #thegoldmineeffect #highperformance #mindset

Welcome to our Book Club. So glad to have you join us. 

We will be having our fourth reading of Chapter Five of our Eighth Featured Book, "The Gold Mine Effect: Crack the Secrets of High Performance," by Rasmus Ankersen. The title of Chapter Five is "Success is About Mindset, not Facilities." Our life is what our Mind Makes it. We can only win the War Without after we have won the War Within, the ownership of our Mind.

Get yourself a seat, tighten your belt, and let us take flight. 

The Saint.

Blessed with Challenges

Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours. ― Noela Evans 

Challenges are an essential part of living. If you stop having them, pinch yourself. You are either dead or in some state of illusion. To live is to have challenges. So, the question is not whether or not you will have challenges. The question is what do you do with them? There is basically one of two choices to make. You either confront and address the challenge, or flee, trying to avoid it. One will cause you to grow, the other will stagnate you.

To live is to have challenges. To have challenges is to have the opportunity to grow and keep on living. For, to live is to grow. When challenges come, the intent is not to kill you. Rather, it comes to stir you up, prepare and push you into the next stage (level, height) of your life. Without challenges we all will not have the impetus to grow. The familiar always looks comfortable and less risky. The challenge is, it has an expiry date. Past its expiry date that which hitherto was a blessing begins to be a curse.

Imagine a child who never makes the attempt to try walking. That which we hitherto were comfortable and okay with begins to be unacceptable. So, by instinct the child makes the attempt. He/she does not make the attempt because it is easy, but rather because it is something that MUST be done. No one really loves challenges, in the very sense of it. We take it only because it is the way to life. It is something that must be done as a part of being living beings.

The eagle does not necessarily enjoy stirring her nest, and risking the life of her offspring. She does it because she knows it is something that must be done if they are to survive and have the best in life. Though it might be difficult and scary, it is by far the best amongst the options. That is the way we each need to see challenges. They do not necessarily come because we have sinned, nor because anyone in our lineage sinned. They come to promote us, to take us to yet greater heights. They come to push us into our destiny.

It is a blessing to be challenged. For, then I am able to call on all the resources I have been endowed with and cause them to work in my favor. The more I use them the better they get, and the more new ones I find. Hence, I am equipped for even newer and more difficult challenges. 

There is no limit to the height a person can get if only he/she faces his/her challenge squarely, and keep challenging him/herself. Nothing is ever good enough. All things can always be done better. That is the secret to life. That is the secret to excellence. That is the secret to greatness.

The Saint.
@2015

First Published: September 26, 2015.