Some days fighting isn't enough.
Today was just that sort of fight. Today, I won and I managed to get my webinar going and go through a training lesson I had for the folk who are replacing me by doing my job in another state. Yep, beyond cruel I know, but I want to do the best job I can while I have one and for Pete's sake, they aren't responsible for the lay off.
I take satisfaction in the fact that these people want to learn, ask intelligent questions and are working to apply what has been taught. For me, I have to concentrate on that otherwise the thought of training my replacement is a touch too much.
They are good people though, and they recognize quality. I review with them and then we work our assignment. With discussion, it takes nearly three hours. Like I said, they ask great questions.
Questions are one of the best ways you can learn. When you ask questions, you are engaged in the topic being discussed and how it impacts you - either by altering your thinking or developing a way to use the information to improve your life.
Never expect your teacher/leader/preacher/rabbi/guru to have all the answers. They may have a number of them, but eventually, the knowledge you gain will equal or perhaps even surpass these learned folk. There is nothing wrong with a student becoming a master. Just be prepared. There will come a time you ask a question that your expert can't answer. Or the answer is going to depend totally on you and your perceptions and needs. The question will get to a point where the question and the answer on dependent not on the respondent but on the questioner.
This is curiosity. If followed to its natural conclusion, curiosity creates a) its own answer and b) new questions.
Having been a classroom teacher for a number of years, I loved the real questions my students asked (and yes, there is such a thing as stupid questions - just teach 7th grade and find out); it symbolized a desire to learn and to understand.
Our company talks about the "mood elevator" and hopes that everyone is at least at the "curious" level of said elevator. Curious is a great place to be and to start ones day. It signals an openness to learning, to new experiences, to a new and different firing of brain synapses.
The upper levels of the elevator include wisdom and thankfulness. The lower tiers include defensiveness, depression, irritability and similar ilk. Being in the bottom of the mood elevator is a place to avoid. Sometimes, though, we can't avoid being depressed and irritable. Hopefully, the low of the mood elevator won't last long.
If I can get myself to the curious state about something, anything, I can rise in the elevator and push myself toward thankfulness.
So, rather than being down about training my future replacements, I encourage them to be curious. If they are spending their training day at least here, on the curious level, I know they will ask good questions, questions that will help them apply what I'm teaching to the responsibilities they need to fulfill.