Ready To Learn
I spend so much of my time teaching people, whether it’s new drivers, new instructors, new classroom teachers or even kids in sports. I enjoy this very much, but sometimes I find people aren’t ready to learn. It’s always difficult to teach someone who doesn’t want to learn. Are you ready to learn? Are you open-minded enough to learn something new? Or maybe you’re a stubborn driver?
As licensed drivers, we often feel that we know enough about driving to drive for the rest of our lives. Not true. We always need to be open to learn new things. Leave your ego and pride at home and open your mind to new things. I was recently speaking with someone who said he was learning a few things from his daughter who had recently taken driver training. What she had shared with her dad were things he had never heard of in his 20 plus years as a driver. Should he ignore what she said, or try to use the same techniques? What would you do?
During each year that I was involved with Discovery Network’s series Canada’s Worst Driver I always had resistance from the participants on the show. They often refused training and for those who did take it, didn’t like it. They didn’t like to e told they weren’t doing things correctly. Maybe this was one of the reasons they were on the show! I said it then and I’ll continue to say it, I can’t teach you if you don’t want to learn. It’s okay to be skeptical; just be an open-minded skeptic.
I once had a parent of one of my students who thought what we were teaching at Young Drivers of Canada was good, but had a couple of strange techniques that he thought were useless. When I asked him why, he just replied “Just because they are.” That’s not a reasonable excuse now, is it? When I continued this discussion lesson after lesson, I found out that he was afraid to try new things. He had a fear of failure. He wanted to continue to do his “old way” because that’s what he knew. If he didn’t try new things, he couldn’t fail at them. There are many people who feel this way.
I offered to take him in the car to show him how to do what his son was doing and he refused yet again. I really wished he could open up so he could take advantage of this information. I could only imagine what it would be like if he was this stubborn at his job. If they brought in new technology would he refuse to use it?
Educating our mind keeps us fresh with new technology and techniques. Learning something new and trying it over and over again will give you a new perspective on your driving. It may even help you enjoy a part of driving you never enjoyed before.