How To Learn a Lesson, Better Yet....How to Teach One.

Ok, well, I don't know if it's the ONLY way to learn, but it's something that works best for me.

I remember reading years ago, and every year since, John Fogg's memorable, 'The Greatest Networker In The World.'

Hands down one of my favorite reads of all time. Engaging, entertaining, and offers the ability to teach lessons.

Today, I just read, for the first time, 'The Go-Giver', by Bob Burg & John David Mann.  I cannot believe I have not read this book yet. I guess it's one of those instances of, 'when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.'

I'm usually one to get my hands on books like this, and lordy knows I have seen this book everywhere, but for some reason I only borrowed it from the library today.

I drew up a nice, hot bath, and figured I'd start the book. It's pretty short, so hopefully I could get through it by the end of the weekend.

Well, it had me so involved, that I read the whole thing while in the tub. The water in the tub was pretty much cold by the time I got out. I just had to finish this book.

My head is still spinning, digesting the lessons taught in this book.

And then I realized something that was told to me once. The best way to teach is to put it into story form.

If we offer up lessons such as what is in the Go-Giver and TGN, and place them in just an outline or in a business outline, more than likely we'd forget the lessons quickly.

Why? Because it doesn't hit our emotions. Our brains don't allow it to get past our conscious thought. With stories, we are given the opportunity to attach emotion to the story, the characters, and the lessons involved.

Look at the great books on the market:

Who Moved My Cheese
The Go-Giver
The Richest Man in Babylon

and more....

The lessons are given to us in story form. The lessons sink in, in a different way then if they were presented to us in a standard, 'here are the lessons', type of book.

Another way to do this is to present the lesson, then give an example of how it was applied to a situation in real life.

So when we are working with people, whether it's with our kids, or with co-workers, team partners, speaking to a crowd, etc, think about getting the message across with a story. Capture their imaginations and present the lesson in the story.

~Namaste,
Jhanna