The global education budget is HUGE! Even if you exclude compulsory education from the calculations, it’s probably somewhere up there just behind health-care and defence.
So many people attend all sorts of training courses. I’ve attended courses, workshops and seminars on everything from highly technical instruction on computer software to yawn-inducing days about managing contracts. There were days spent learning how to manage staff, how to give effective presentations and how different personality-types interact.
Every profession has its Continuing Professional Development requirements. However, training is not just for professionals. The voluntary sector is awash with opportunities to learn new skills and hone existing ones.
And yet, in what is arguably the most important area of life, we are usually resistant to help. Perhaps it’s because we thing we’re doing “good enough”. Perhaps we don’t like to admit our failings, after all, “it wasn’t me that was in the wrong.”
Personal relationships are what makes life. It may be something of a cliche, but the point is often framed something like this; how many people on their deathbed wish they’d spent more time on their CV and less with their family? Missing out on relationships is near the top of the list of most common regrets.
We readily request and receive training to build upon the skills we already have. Any competitive advantage in the workplace is grasped. And yet we never feel as though we need to develop the skills for our most important relationships.
Why the disparity?
Perhaps the lure of “just a little bit more” is too tempting. People lose sight of what’s really important. Maybe the pain of past relationships causes them to “protect” themselves from “going there again”. It could be that expectations of marriage are just far too low. As long as that low threshold is met they’re satisfied, even if not completely happy.
Unlike businesses, most families don’t have a training budget. This need not be a show-stopper. Many not-for-profit organisations provide superb training at exceptionally good rates. Don’t forget there are also many helpful books and websites if that’s the way you learn.
The articles on this site are dedicated to helping you live a better life. The lessons we’re learning as we walk though life inform my writing and I share them here regularly.
So, if you’re:
- content to get to the end of your life having poured yourself only into your work,
- happy to have a marriage and other relationships that don’t utterly delight you or
- believe that life can’t get any better than it is now
then you don’t need any of this!
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Know someone that’s working too hard? Send them this article – it might be the wake-up call they need.
Have a great life lesson to share? Email me and perhaps we could feature it on this site.
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Some helpful resources:
Care for the Family
Christians Against Poverty
The Marriage of Your Dreams
