Teacher Turned Humbled Student

Ironically, I spent World Teachers' Day by being a student. I became a student of the renowned Francis Kong.

I have always shied away from attending motivational talks for two reasons. On a more practical matter, I'd rather save my money for something else. Second, as aptly put by one of my friends, we already know what those speakers are going to talk about.

But since fate literally handed out a free ticket to me, my first reason was invalidated. As for my second reason, the talk was an event hosted by a friend for which my training team sponsored. So there, I found myself amidst approximately a thousand persons who were eager to hear Mr. Kong speak.

Among the things I learned from the multi-awarded speaker were (1) You will never be happy unless you are productive and (2) The curse of business is inertia, the solution is momentum. These and a lot of others insights were very enlightening.

But what was perhaps the most important realization I had was that even if I knew well what the speaker was talking of, I needed to be there. I am a trainer myself and I have conducted seminars similar to the speaker's topic. I realized that I had to listen to him.

I guess it is like that for me or for some of us. It's not that we don't know these things. We do. But no matter how knowledgeable we are, we need someone else to tell us things that we already know because we may have forgotten them or have lost connection to it's true value. For me it was like Francis Kong was speaking at a wavelength that triggered my own inner voice that has been silent for quite a while. It made me reflect. It made me question my values. It turned me into a humbled student of life. After all, learning is a continuous process. I am then a perpetual student.

Happy Teachers' Day!