Have you ever been completely lost during class? You’re in the room. You’re listening. But you find yourself just sitting there with no idea what the professor is talking about. Do you raise your hand and ask for help?
Usually, the answer is “no.”
Why not? Fear.
We are hard-wired to resist standing out. The lions eat the member of the herd that stands out. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been in the mood to be someone’s lunch.
So we put on our scholarly face, scribble down some notes that we hope will make sense later, and leave the room defeated. The second you’re in the hall, you and your classmates begin the discussion:
“Wow that was hard. I was totally lost.”
You know you’ve done this. Don’t deny it. Isn’t it funny how much braver we are in the hall?
Sometimes, an amazing thing happens in class. Someone stops the professor to ask a question. And this encourages someone else to ask. And someone else. And it snowballs into a useful discussion in which everyone (professor included) learns something.
When we struggle, we convince ourselves we are alone.
Wrong! There are over 7 billion people alive today. While the circumstances of every person’s life are unique, the problems we face aren’t. Yet we’re all sitting silently in class, wishing someone would ask the first question.
This is your invitation to raise your hand.
We’re expanding the Intentional Academy content to include real stories from real people. We want you to contribute. Reach out, right now to share your story. We’ll guide you through, we’ll do the hard work.
Tell your story, it may just change someone’s life.
Want to contribute? Send me a message! tony@tonyferrar.com, or DM on social.
