Empathy—A Foundation in Learning, Doing, and Improving our Crafts.

“Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page” — Steve Jobs

There’s no such thing as being “great” at things. It is merely a stereotype in a way that people would call someone “great” because that person has consistently nailed their craft. It should be sinked into our thoughts that everyone starts at learning before they even could do things. And that, they should be constantly finishing things as many times before they would get known from their field. But being known is not enough, you wanted to be respected or to be looked upon. And before you can attain that, you have to make sure you can make things consistently successful may it be influencing people, being reliable, etc.

But what should be our guide? How can we be successful? How can we finish things? How can we even do things? How can we learn things? The easiest thing you can hold on to is to empathize.

Start with empathy and everything will come later.

“Empathy” is not just a feeling

We all know empathy is the ability to is understand and share feelings. And the same with other abilities, empathy can be learned like a skill. And like a skill, you can do pretty much do a lot when you are able to acquire it. Especially when your ability to empathize has matured well.

• Do you want to have a better vision? Empathize with the stories and experiences of the people.
• Do you want to have a better process? Empathize with your teammates, observe, collaborate with them, and ask what you can do to help them.
• Do you want to have a better output? Empathize with yourself and make sure you get the answers on the ff: “how it is done?”, “why it is done that way?”, “what if it’s done in different way?”, “what is its history?”, etc.

Strengthening “Empathy” = Learning Better

And like a skill, empathy is something you can improve thru constant practice and consistent habit. Here are few practices and habits that you can do:

Immerse yourself in the stories of people. Listen to people. Know their story. If it’s for work, watching TV series that depict the story of those people can help. If there’s no TV series, you can check news articles and even talk to them if you know someone. Find people if not network where you can get immersed in these stories.

Immerse yourself by putting your shoes on your feet. Okay so now you have felt what they felt, but then have you really verified that it is really how it feels? One thing you can do is practice what they do.

Help not just observe. Now when you learn the problems and struggles of these people, helping or making solutions to solve these problems means you have truly empathized with them. You can also make accountability groups where can be more motivated to do things better.

Don’t exhaust yourself. This is probably not the most important but can be crucial for people who are too selfless. You can’t empathize with other people if you let yourself burn out. There’s a tendency you just get more frustrated, more disinterested, and eventually blame those people who you are supposed or wanted to support.