Expect to Learn
How many times have you attended a workshop or seminar only because you felt you had to? I’ve been there. The boss scheduled a training for me; the company retrained on a regular basis. We often attend or read because we think we should because someone else thinks we should. Many times we attend a workshop and either let our minds wander to what we should be doing or focus on why we don’t actually need to be there—the old, “I already know this stuff anyway,” “Why am I wasting my time here?” “I’ve got so many other things I could be doing.”
Stop the negative filtering. As humans, we are designed to find the potential problems in situations—it’s nature’s way of allowing us to defend ourselves from potentially dangerous situations. However, if you attend a workshop or read a book with negative filtering, you will block any opportunity you had to learn. Instead, attend every workshop or seminar and read every book or article while continuously asking yourself, “How can I use this?” Make a list of what you want to gain from the material and then look for it. Just writing it down will help you get the information you really want. By writing it down you are setting your RAS—reticular activating system—in 
your brain.
Your RAS is like a compass. Remember the last time you bought a new car? Before buying the car you didn’t see many like the one you were considering on the road. However, once you’ve purchased it, voila! They’re everywhere! That’s because you are consciously, and unconsciously, looking for that car now that you’ve purchased one and set your RAS. Learning works in the same way—you must expect to learn.