The old me would be telling you that my husband “owed me big time” because I deigned to accompany him to a “Wealth Builders” meeting tonight to listen and learn about investments from people who have been investing and succeeding for many years now.  The new me will tell you that although 1/10th of what was said made it into my pea brain for further gestation, I’m glad I went.  I saw old friends who I haven’t seen in a long time, from work and outside of work, as well as  some new words and concepts which made it into my brain for further investigation.

When you consider that the subject of finance and investing is probably the last box that I’ll ever check on any questionnaire about my interests, I’m glad that I was willing to show support to my husband about something he is interested in by going with him and listening.  I do know the difference between a Bear market (on the down trend) and a Bull market (on the up trend) and that gold is a very good thing to invest in right now, but that is about the limit of my understanding of what seems to me to be a very complex subject.  Now, what does intrigue me is the psychology and sociology of our western culture (as well as other cultures) and how the affect it has on the market.  Human thinking and feeling is something I can sink my teeth into.

The good thing about stepping out of your comfort zone and learning something new, like I did this evening, is that I can always find some place/thought/idea that I understand (human psychology) and find a meeting ground with the new subject (finance and investing) that can keep my interest long enough to be curious about why certain actions have been taken and to want to understand how/when/who took what action as well as their impact.  When we expose ourselves to new arenas for learning, we enrich the areas that we already know and keep that  rich soil for our ideas moving and accepting of nutrients instead of packing down into dense, stale, non-absorbent ground.

Now, will I begin voraciously reading books and sites on investing?  I don’t think so, but I will probably go to next Month’s meeting to let more new ideas sift in.

What about you?  Where can you step out of your comfort zone and learn something new?   What will it be?  When?