When we look back at our careers, at our jobs, even at our lives, some of the things we are most proud of likely fall into two categories:
- learning new things
- doing good work
We rarely think of these two items as how they translate into energy, but they do. Because what we choose to spend our energy on is what gets energized in return by our contributions.
In the simplest terms, consciously or unconsciously, we grapple with one overarching question: Do we invest or do we disperse? This applies to other, but also to our selves. Our attitudes inform our approach, which in turn creates our culture.
Relationships are an investment that generates renewal energy for both parties (or entities) because we learn as much as or more than we teach through exchanges with others, even through reading about their work or watching a play or a talk.
It's fascinating how much passion is behind so many of the stories and initiatives we share in social networks, for example. But are we still leaving opportunity on the table when we are each looking for a click rather than an opportunity to help expand someone else's work or world?
Kevin Spacey says:
Sir David Leon “dedicated his acceptance speech to the idea of promoting and supporting emerging talent. It turns out he was concerned, perhaps frightened by the film industry’s lack of commitment to developing talent and the greater and greater number of films the studios were making that appealed only to the pulse and not to the mind.”
Appealing only to the click and not the mind. Learning new things is important, and not just in a narrow domain, but going beyond what is to create what is possible. This is how we build renewable energy, from one individual to the other, from one generation to the next.
Learning has been a habit since my early Montessori days. I constantly share ideas, information, and resources with people in my network.
This summer I started Learning Habit weekly to put all of these things in one place -- new posts, articles around the web, and books I’m reading on topics ranging from business, technology, culture, creativity, philosophy, and psychology.
It's free to join and a good way to tap into diverse topics and counter intuitive ideas. Readers say it helps them explore “how to make things happen.”
Still time to subscribe to receive this week's issue Sunday morning.
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More quotables from Kevin Spacey at Content Marketing World last year.
[quote via Callie Oettinger]