My good friend Brandon Turner wrote a post on this blog not too long ago entitled The One Character Trait You Need to Succeed (and How to Start Developing it Today). This is a wonderful read indeed, as is everything that comes off of Brandon’s screen. However, in my view Brandon missed the mark on this one by suggesting that being teachable is the most important requisite for success. If it were, there’d be a whole lot more successful people. After all – a lot of people are intelligent and learned, but very few are successful…
My Friend – the Psychiatrist
I have a friend who happens to be a psychiatrist. His profession fascinates me from one stand-point – it seems that once people step foot into a therapist’s office, they never leave. People just keep coming back for more, more, and more – good for the therapist’s bottom line, but perhaps not so good for the patient… The following is a loose outline of a conversation I’ve had with my friend on several occasions:
Me: People come to you because they are confused and unable to find answers. Your job is to open the door for them to walk into the light, which you do. But, most never seem to walk through the opening. Why?
Him: You seem to know a lot about this. How come?
Me: There was a time when Patrisha and I struggled communicating and we saw a counselor for a while. I learned a lot…
Him: And what did you learn?
Me: I learned that it’s impossible to have all of the answers, and that you have to start walking in the face of …read more