As black women, we face a unique set of challenges at the intersection of our race and sex. Cultural mores, seen as “the done thing” in the black community, such as birthing out of season, accepting scraps, and working ourselves to the bone for everyone else’s benefit but our own, is taught, in word or in deed, from one generation to the next. With the advent of social media, there has been an awakening to other ways of thinking. For many black women, the ideas put forward, like “choose character over color”, or “don’t have more children than you can afford”, can seem like a deeply personal attack. However, despite how black women may feel, there is one small thing that can positively impact black women for generations.

What is that piece of valuable advice?

Be teachable.

A willingness to have your own beliefs challenged is a simple way to open a whole world of options to you. After all, that’s how we learn, right? We see or do someone do something a certain way, and upon seeing that way be successful, we can try to emulate it ourselves. Unfortunately, too many black women have a mindset of having to experience something for themselves to believe it. One  does not have to stick your hand in an open flame to know the resulting burns would be painful. Instead, it would be more beneficial (and cause less heartache) to learn from the highs and lows of others. Like the saying goes- only a fool learns from her own mistakes. A wise woman learns from the mistakes of others.

Being teachable is not without difficulty.

The aforementioned cultural mores have an impact, but there is also the arrogance of youth. Many younger black women think they simply know better, and choose to ignore good advice from older wiser women. This is not unique to black women, mind you, but due to our unique position in the world, our inability to heed wisdom from the women before us can be detrimental.

Another difficulty is the resistance to learning from an “imperfect” messenger.

All too often, other black women demand perfection from a potential teacher, and cling to a mistake she might have made as evidence that she is unfit to give advice. If you think about it, who better to learn from, than someone who has lived the experience? It’s all well and good to get information from women in their ivory tower, but diversifying your learning portfolio will only help you in the long run.

Speaking of being teachable, you can give the gift of wisdom to a fellow black woman right now. For a limited time, you can get one Pink Pill course -The Original Pink Pill, The Pink Pill for College, or The Pink Pill for Business and get a FREE course to give to someone you love! Simply visit https://www.GetPinkPill.com, make your purchase, and follow the instructions on the Thank-You page on how to submit your giftee so she can be manually enrolled.