3 tips for passing-on experience

“Life is about gathering experience, making sense of experience and passing-on experience,” we are told. Human beings love to share their knowledge. So how can you take this step in your own way? Here are three ideas you may wish to consider.

* You can gather experience.

Start by focusing on something you want to study. You may want to learn about architecture, playing music, carpentry, solving a problem, becoming healthy, different cultures, communicating clearly or whatever. Lifelong learners pursue the themes they find fascinating. The term ‘go with your positive energy’ – sounds flaky, but it is true. As Peter Senge, the educational writer, said: “The learner learns what the learner wants to learn.” They also learn in the way they want to learn. After deciding on the topic you want to explore, pursue your own method for gathering experience. You may prefer to learn by doing, reading, thinking, studying positive models or whatever. Try completing the following sentences.

The specific topic I want to explore is:

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The specific things I can do to explore, gather
experience and learn about this topic are:

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* You can make sense of experience.

“This is the fascinating part about learning,” said one teacher. “You can quickly spot if a person has a ‘feeling’ for a topic. How? They are able to ‘see patterns’. Some people simply record this experience. Those who go on to become gifted practitioners take two further steps. They have the ability to predict and shape future patterns.”

How do you make sense of experience? You may take time-out to reflect, write your thoughts, discuss ideas with kindred spirits, learn from great teachers, gather more information, make models – then test the ideas or whatever. My own style, for example, is: a) To study success – be it studying individuals, team or organisations: b) To find patterns – then translate these into models and tools; c) To share the models and tools with people to see if these resonate and can be used successfully. If the answer is “Yes,” these are added to the repertoire. You will, of course, make sense of experience in your own way. Looking at the topic you want to explore, try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to
make sense of the experience are:

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* You can pass-on experience.

“The best way to learn is to teach,” we are told. Why? As a teacher, you feel responsible for giving people relevant and useful information – so this forces you to know your subject. You also want others to learn from your experience. Great educators are generous. They want to give people knowledge that they can add to their repertoires and increase their chances of success.

People share their experience in different ways. You may want to become a coach, mentor, educator, writer, photographer, artist, entertainer, parent, leader or whatever. It’s crucial to find your preferred vehicle – the niche that ‘comes naturally’ – then work at improving your art. So what is your vehicle? Who are your ‘perfect target group’ – the people to whom you would like to pass-on knowledge? How can you communicate this information? Once you have share your wisdom, how can you keep improving? Bearing in mind the topic you want to explore, try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to pass-on my experience are:

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