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Old Dog and New Tricks - Tip O'Neill - Continual Learning and Haters

You can teach an old dog new tricks, and this old dog wants to learn.


from: Tip O'Neill   Speaker of the American House of Representatives 1977-1987

Gramma Moses didn't start painting until her 70's.  Colonel Sanders sold his first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in his 60's.  Ray Croc started McDonalds in his 50's.  Duncan Hines was 55 when he started writing cook books.  Sam Walton opened his first "Walmart" when he was in his 40's.  Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first Little House on the Prairie when she was 65.

Yesterday, some 30-something told me that one of the teachers we used to work with couldn't adapt because "she was too old."  I knew this teacher and I doubt if she could have adapted 20 years ago.  Age had nothing to do with her lack of evolution; her stubbornness and protection of ego had everything to do with it.  

What really surprised me is that the 30-something is a teacher.  A TEACHER.  And almost everyday his job is to teach "new tricks."  Weekly he experiences resistance to learning from young people.  Even with that empirical data, he falls back on a stereotype.

And he is not a hater.  He talks fondly of Obama.  He vents when people make statements about his genetic background.  He graduated from a fine university and is erudite.  He had a very international upbringing.  Unfortunately, it took me stating his speech was offensive THREE TIMES before he realized it.

DON'T LET THE HATERS STOP YOU!  Learning is hard for everyone.  Developing a skill takes time.  Be around people who support you.  Make progressing on your path a habit and keep at it.




Gratitudes:  Holidays, insect spray, and water filters.

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