Last week I attended the Global Wellness Summit in Tel Aviv. The GWS is the top conference globally for the wellness industry, attracting internationally recognised authorities, and is held in a different location every year. This year it was Israel’s turn.
There are always insights and takeaways from GWS and a comment that one of the speakers made particularly caught my attention. He said “to be able to teach to have to be ready to learn. And to learn you need to connect with the child in you”.
As a professional educator I am very aware of this. Every time. I teach a class the learning is a two-way street; my students from me and me from my students. Sometimes my learning is due to the questions they challenge me with, other times it’s simply through the process of repeat exposure to the content which allows me to develop a deeper understanding of a specific principle.
President Bill Clinton is renowned for his ability to work a room. Using a variety of handshake techniques and sporting a broad smile, he would make each person feel relevant. I once read that Clinton’s mindset when meeting someone for the first time was “what can I learn from this person?”. I don’t know if this is true, however I find the concept incredibly inspiring. When we approach an interaction we can’t help but adopt a learning mindset.
The willingness to learn allows us to adapt to new concepts and challenge conventional thought. This may seem obvious however often we cut off our learning focus as we become older, instead relying on accumulated knowledge and past experience to make decisions. When we were children, we would never do this.
According to Morris Massey, one of the most influential business academics of the 1970’s and 1980’s, we are like sponges up to the age of 7 years old where we absorb all the information we are exposed to. Massey termed this as the ‘imprint’ period’. From the age of 8-13 we then copy people, trying different views and styles the eventually become an integral part of our own identity. This is termed the ‘modelling period’. The final developmental stage up to the age of 21 is the ‘socialization period’ where we are attracted to people like us and jettison many of the traits we previously learned.
While Massey’s developmental stages are highly insightful, it is also clear that few of us are the finished article at the age of 21. To quote Einstein “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”. By connecting with our inner child and rediscovering the joy in learning, that mindset we had up to the age of 13, we can and will learn more effectively.
At last week’s GWS, I met a legend of the spa and wellness industry Sue Harmsworth. Sue is a 5 decade veteran of the spa industry, the serial entrepreneur and the founder of Espa which she sold when running over 600 spas globally just before covid (talk about timing..). I have had the honour of knowing Sue for approximately 15 years through my involvement in the spa industry, and to say she is inspirational is an understatement. In writing this blog, I realise that one of the things that has always attracted me to attend her talks and battle to find 5 minutes with her during a conference is her love for life and constant improvement. At 77 years old she is the Mick Jagger of the wellness industry, a pioneer with a dazzling smile and amazing energy who remains a visionary.
Children learn best when they are in a positive frame of mind. If we first help a child remember something positive such as a recent success, they will then take this mindset into the new learning challenge and, where possible, repeat the techniques that produced previous success. This is known as ‘reinforced behaviour’. It’s no different for us as adults. Whether you take your inspiration from Bill Clinton or my friend Sue, from a quotation from Einstein or the child inside of you, we all have the tools to continually learn and be the best possible version of ourself.
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