Every day
is a learning experience. Now, having spent just over 50 years on the third
rock from the sun, I am convinced that my kids are smarter than me. Way
smarter!
It is human
evolution; people becoming ever smarter, all the time, continually. It is a slow
process - like evolutionary changes in all living organisms - requiring several
generations to become evident, or obvious to casual observers.
Some people
claim evolution is just a theory. That is correct, much like the theory of
gravity, relativity, or… You know who you are, and I still love you, but don’t
be ignorant! The learning and knowledge that my kids share with me surrounds you as well. All you require is an open mind.
The other
day, I mentioned that our kids are smarter than what we are, to one of my peers,
of similar age. Without hesitation, he replied that even if that were true,
they lack experience.
What
experience? Work? Relationships? Perhaps past successes that allow you to think
of yourself as being smart? Have you taken time to pause and consider that your
vast life experience may be dated, no longer be relevant in 2014?
Your past
experience unfortunately permeates everything that you learned by yourself, or
that you were taught to believe. And I mean everything!
Are you even
able to question anything without feeling guilty; guilt often driven by
self-doubt, insecurity, oppression and other undesirable behavior taught to you
by parents, teachers, preachers?
Three
beliefs often underscore false reliance on past experience: (1) the older you
get… the better you tell people you were at… (2) you know you are only as good
as your last, and most recent past success, and (3) whatever you are failing at
today… used to work really well in 1985.
I was
following my @rudibest Twitter feed this past weekend, and came across a debate
between two people that struck me as something more than simply academically of
interest.
It was a
Twitter conversation between an #OldWall analyst going by a handle that
includes the word “bubble”, and a young lady who includes the suffix “lass” in
her Twitter handle. Bubble is of my generation. Lass: young enough to be his
daughter or mine.
Basically,
the difference in opinion was marked. Bubble’s entire existence - on Twitter
anyway - revolves around predictions of financial doom and gloom. Student debt,
mortgage debt, government debt, overvalued equities, the Fed printing money,
etc.
Lass’
self-describes as a “Municipal bond market geek.” But, she is a modern woman, a
millennial if I were to be bold enough to guess her age from her profile pic.
And confident, very direct.
In response
to Bubble’s prediction of pending financial doom, she replied:
She is
absolutely correct. It is her world now. It is also my sons’ world now; a world
that belongs to their millennial peers. It is their world.
The beauty
of evolution is the essence of survival. Younger people become stronger,
faster, smarter, more efficient and more effective, every single second!
You may not
notice. In fact, it is unlikely that you will be able to notice, because it is
less obvious than the long-term effects of ageing, loss of strength or agility
as one ages, or even weight-gain spread (pun intended) over a few decades.
Your kids
are already smarter than you. Your vast portfolio of skills and life experiences
are mostly redundant, unless refreshed and upgraded every single day.
If all one has to offer is memories of past successes, a valuable
contribution to society may simply be getting out of the way of learning and development. A natural
process also called the circle of life, or survival of the fittest. That is also
why people of lesser skills are replaced by people with greater skills, every
day.
Learn while you can, and learn while you earn!
