You are a learner. Obviously you are, or you wouldn’t have reached the level you’re at.
But the more you succeed, the less likely it is that you’ll continue to learn.
That may sound completely backwards, but here’s what can happen. As you succeed, you can start to become attached to the identity of the person who succeeded. And there are three influences that can make future learning more difficult:
1️⃣ Your success reveals that you have knowledge or skills that others around you don’t have. And it can be easy to forget that they also have valuable skills and knowledge that you don’t have. The temptation is to dismiss other people’s ideas, especially when they conflict with yours.
2️⃣ Sustained success can be comfortable. Trying something new invites failure. And sometimes the idea of resting on your reputation is so attractive that you interpret your current comfort as stability that you aren’t willing to put at risk.
3️⃣ This is where the biggest warning comes: It can become easier to fight to maintain the relevance of your current skills than to obtain new ones. This may look like consciously ignoring and denying changes around you or actively resisting them by exerting your influence.
But change does come. Ongoing success will depend on separating your identity from your current skills and embracing your ability to learn.
If you’d like to explore your specific situation in more detail, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.