Your 2ndChance at a First Impression: Take What You Need and Leave the Rest

To be successful one has to be a perpetual student. There will always be something new to learn or expound upon in order to stay on top of your industry and frankly your life. In that vein last week I attended a very promising all day seminar. The speaker had an extensive list of credentials and a truly exciting outline (yes, I'm a geek).

Within less than 20 minutes of the presentation and in the midst of an eye opening aha moment she made a statement about the value, or lack thereof, of social media in the spectrum of things. As a social media educator and one who has seen the massive impact of social media, used correctly, my ears started to close shut to any additional "words of wisdom" and also made me want to question everything she'd said up to that point.

At this point I had a couple of choices and I promise you I debated extensively within myself. In the meantime I missed a portion of the seminar before I shook myself and realized how stupid I was being. Her pedigree was clear. Her experience was unquestionable and even within the first few minutes she had already opened my eyes to things that seemed so obvious but were untouched in my life.

I determined then to take what I needed and leave the rest. I filed away the questionable comments, admittedly physically flinching when I heard them, instead focusing on the amazing pearls of wisdom that she was throwing out like beads at Mardi Gras. The lesson for ALL OF US became blatantly obvious.

In every teacher/mentor/educator there are fountains of information ready to be poured in to your life BUT just because they package it differently or have differing opinions about some things does not negate the tutelage that they can offer you. Shake yourself, open your eyes and ears and then Take What You Need and Leave The Rest.