"What got you to where you are won’t keep you here."

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2013-10-08) from his book, Sometimes You Win--Sometimes You Learn:Life's Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses (p. 108). Center Street. Kindle Edition.

I got to Pasadena, California from Florida on I10. I drove that U-Haul 26ft truck for three days on I10 and made it, ready to move into our Trio Apartment and enjoy our life here in Pasadena. But knowing what I knew to get here didn’t help me in living here. I have to keep learning, to keep exploring. A map on how to get from Florida to California doesn’t help me in getting around LA.

I have known some people who at the beginning of their new job did all they could to learn how to do it and they were successful but with their success they believed they knew all they needed to know so they quit striving to get better and eventually were let go. They didn’t keep learning they didn’t keep growing.

Some people go all the way through and get their PHD degree and then go get a job and say, “OK, that is over” and they never open another book. They have arrived.

One reason why I am writing this blog is to keep me growing and learning. To write this particular blog, I have to read. I get more benefit from writing this blog because of what I am learning from my reading the books to find the thoughts so I can continue the thought than you probably do in reading it. Granted I am retired from getting a paycheck for what I do but I am not retired from life. There is so much more to learn, to know, to become even at 65+.

Have you learned all you need to know in your job, in your marriage, in your being a parent, in having successful relationships, in serving Christ? Have you arrived? I hope not. There is so much more potential out there to make a difference in and through your life.

John also goes on and says, “We can choose the pathway to a better future by developing a teachable spirit, or we can sabotage that future by pretending that we know everything we need to move forward in life— which, by the way, is impossible for anyone!”

He also says, “Living to your potential requires you to keep learning and expanding yourself. For that, you must have a teachable spirit. If you don’t, you will come to the end of your potential long before you come to the end of your life.”

I don’t want to do that.

How about you?

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