As a kid, people expect you not to know everything.  And yet, somehow as an adult, we imagine that we are supposed to know things.  Perhaps it comes from adults telling kids things like, “parents know best,” “trust your elders,” and “respect authority.”  Well, I’m here to tell you that there’s plenty that I don’t know.  Truth be told, I’m thankful for this.  Can you imagine not having anything left to learn???  

Despite having earned a certification or degree or having worked in or on something for many years, you just can’t know everything there is to know about something if it is in any way dynamic.  Whether it is in your personal life or professional life, we all have moments where we have something to learn.  It could be as simple as finding out how to display the odometer on the RV without starting the engine or learning what to notice when the sewage tank dump doesn’t seem quite right.  Sometimes we learn easily and with only a little research.  Sometimes we make the same mistake or encounter the same problem multiple times.  In all these experiences, we chalk it up to OJT – On the Job Training.  

If I were to define OJT, it would be all the things that we learn when we need to do so, but that teachers, managers, or business owners don’t teach in the classroom, at conferences, or training certifications, or other things that we’ve completed to prepare ourselves.  We had our share of OJT in our first month of living in the motorhome and I’m sure there will be lots of other OJT moments ahead of us.    My best advice:

1. Recognize that it’s ok for you or your partner NOT to know everything.
2. Be grateful that we live in an age where Google can help us find answers or at least connect us to others that have experienced similar issues.
3. Be willing to ask for help.
4. Participate when others need help so you can learn not only from your issues but someone else’s.
5. Appreciate on-the-job training as an opportunity for you to learn new things making it easier to deal with the same or similar issues in the future.
6. Know that a shrug of the shoulders and comment, like “OJT at its best,” helps give the experience its place and provides each other both an acknowledgment that we didn’t know something, that we’ve learned (sometimes the hard way), and that we are now better prepared for the next time as a result. 

Here’s hoping that today’s OJT: isn’t too expensive, doesn’t result in injury or death, and leads us to enjoy being On the Road of Adventure just a little bit more.