My nine-year-old daughter Katie, came home from school yesterday - full of excitement about the fact that she had been chosen as a 'buddy' to a younger child.
"What's a buddy then?" I asked.
"Well...you look after them and you play with them and you make sure they're alright and Jade is looking after someone but Melissa is not and I don't really like my buddy really but as I'm a buddy I'll look after them and I'm going to get a badge with 'buddy' written on it and..."
"I think I get the idea!"
(She likes to fit in as much as she can when she gets an opportunity to talk!)
"And we had to line up by the buddy sign and I called Jade over because her buddy was waiting for her and I should be getting my buddy badge soon..."
(She has also inherited a family trait passed down from my father to me to her - that of repeating ourselves!)
So...what has Katie being a buddy got to do with YOU?
Well...I was wondering - do YOU have a 'buddy'?
You know, someone you can go to to ask questions, ask for advice, talk through stuff with?
Someone who understands what you're going through?
"Yeh...and Melissa was angry with me because she said that I was showing off about being a buddy because she wasn't, and I said to her..."
(Alright Katie - I think they get the idea already - you can stop now!)
So...
The challenge for you is to find someone whom you can short-cut the learning process.
Someone who can just say "Yeh - just do this..." when you've spent hours trying to work something out.
Someone who can just say "Don't do that - I tried it last year and this happened" when you come up with a new idea.
Someone who can just say "You don't need to know all that - I didn't" when you are faced with what seems like a daunting learning curve.
Can you see where I'm going with this?
You CAN do it all yourself and make your own mistakes (like I did) - or you can take a few months (or even years) off of your learning timeframe by linking up with someone who has been there before.
Bet you're wondering where you can find such a person if you haven't already got someone, aren't you.
Well...
You could pay someone to be your 'coach' or mentor.
- Many of the very top household names do it this way...and even top actors have an acting coach.
You could attend a seminar and meet up with someone who is in the same boat as you.
- Quite often, even if this person isn't an 'expert' - they probably could share some knowledge about what works and what doesn't for them.
You can get an ebook, book, or course on your topic written by an expert.
- The trouble with this is that most of the 'experts' aren't...and, unless you have an implementation mentality, all that new knowledge may be waster by inaction.
You could participate on online forums.
- Not necessarily the best way, but many relationships have been started from answering each other's posts and progressed to email, phone calls etc
You could participate in a 'networking' type online (or offline) club.
- More business-oriented generally, but, if you invest the time to cultivate relationships, can be worthwhile
(I'm thinking about developing a similar type of website to those networking sites - not with a business-building focus - but just to get people like you connected to others with similar ideas, challenges etc.)
It's not always easy to find the right buddy for you - but it is certainly worth the effort in terms of the return you get from your time invested.
Just reading an autobiography from an expert in your area can give you some ideas about how to overcome obstacles or short-cut your learning curve.
There IS someone out there who is a perfect match for helping you get to where you want to go - you just need to make a little effort to find them.
Believe me - it's time well invested if it enables you to chop a few years off of learning stuff that you might not even need to learn!
At the very least - you will be able to talk to someone who understands what you're going through, which is always an excellent thing.
"And you need to help them just in case they are sad or fall over or don't know where they are going or something and..."
Yes, Katie - I think that they get the picture now!
Posted by vurnumg
