Being Coachable with Cows and Patients by Shelby

Being Coachable with Cows and Patients by Shelby - February 2023 Scholarship Essay

I have lived on a farm all my life and learned the soft skill needed in any new learning situation is to be coachable. I have learned a lot of skills working with my family on our small farm. The greatest skill I have learned was to observe, listen, and watch. Over the years I have been given more responsibility because I have listened to those teaching me skills.
I feel like you can listen and observe so many things but if you aren’t willing to take what you have learned and put it into practice then you aren’t really being coachable. My grandfather is the type of leader who is quiet but methodical. Everything has a process. You can’t load a cow into a trailer until you first separate the moms from the babies. Then you have to sort the young cows from the older cows. It would be nice to think we could just pull up, put a cow in a trailer and be on our way but there is a methodical process. If you skip a step you have a one thousand pound angry animal coming towards you with only a gate to shield the first blow. Some farm hands think they know better and have tried ways to make shortcuts but it always ends up with a hurt farm hand or ruined equipment. By doing something how you were told, being coachable, prevents harm coming to others and helps maintain a calm working environment.
My plan is to go to nursing school. Being coachable will help me not only be successful in the classroom but also through quality care of my future patients. Being coachable doesn’t mean you have to be stepped or remain silent, it just means that you observe, listen, and understand then put it into practice. Whether working cows or taking care of patients I think being coachable will bring success.