My dad taught me how to play tennis when I was a kid. To be honest I was just an average player but Dad kept encouraging me to play with people who were better than me. I got frustrated because I said “Daddy, I just want to win!”
But he insisted that I would become a better player by hanging out with people more skilled than I and he was right. Every time I played with someone better than me, I learned a new trick, gained some new perspective, learned from my mistakes and strengthened the quality of my game.
Fifteen years into entrepreneurship, I do my best to spend as much time with people who are smarter, wiser and more experienced than I am in my profession. I have remembered my Dad’s lesson ever since and apply it to my life-long learning as an entrepreneur. (Thanks, Dad!)
Last week, I had the good fortune to spend two days with some of the top experts in the speaking industry at my coach Jane Atkinson‘s Accelerate 2016 event in Dallas, Texas. Jane is one of the top speaking coaches in the industry and she attracts a talented crowd of people who want to be in her orbit and learn from her. While I have been speaking publicly for 20+ years, I am just now really learning the business of the speaking industry and Jane has helped guide the way.
For two days in Dallas, I sat at the foot of the Masters. The faculty members at the event are some of the most widely known and widely respected names in the speaking industry. I daresay some of them are living legends. (Check out Lou Heckler, Vince Poscente, Dave Lieber and Michael Hoffman.)
They taught us new speaking techniques, mindset strategies and business tactics to help establish ourselves as experts in our field. The room was filled with emerging speakers, intermediate speakers and seasoned speakers (including an Olympic medalist, a Harvard professor, a Disney Imagineer and two people who have summited Mount Everest, just to name a few!).
I returned to my office this week feeling revitalized and more confident because I learned new skills, gathered new resources and got incredibly inspired by the people around me.
Here are some of my takeaways from the weekend that I hope will inspire YOU to seek out the Masters in your field. Look for mentors, coaches and people willing to share their expertise. There are genuinely generous people out there who want to “pay it forward” because someone helped them early in their career.
- You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Learn from your mentors. They will share what works so you can benefit from their experience and what doesn’t so you can learn from their mistakes. Listen to them speak, read their books, subscribe to their podcasts.
- Interview people in your profession. Talk to the veterans and the experts and find out what they did to get to where they are. Ask them for advice on your next steps.
- Stay on top of your industry. Change happens fast and you need to stay current to be relevant. Read relentlessly and attend conferences that relate to your field.
- Participate in a mastermind. Get together with like-minded colleagues to share support, inspiration and resources. Regular accountability is an important element for success.
- Take time to work ON your business not just in it. Schedule time every week, month and year for big picture planning and professional development. When you incorporate time for strategic visioning, your decision making gets easier when you can ask “Is this decision moving me toward my vision or taking me away from it?”
Revitalizing Action: What is one thing you want to commit to in the next month to engage more in your profession and up your game?
Here’s to the mentors, masters and wise people of the world!
Elizabeth