Recently, I was at a networking event here in Maryland Heights where there were many people I had never met before. The purpose of the event was to exchange business cards and contact information for possible business dealings in the future.

I made my way throughout the conference room, shaking hands and becoming acquainted with new faces when I came across a gentleman standing by himself. I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself and I made my way over to him.

He shook my hand and told me his name. He told me he was working in the human services industry, and I told him that I had a degree in that field. We began to discuss subjects in that area and the conversation quickly became stagnated.

I mentioned organizations that he might want to work with since he was unemployed and he became very quiet. I finally asked if he was interested in working for these companies and he pretty much told me that based on what he had "heard" or knew from the past, he was not interested.

While I understood his thought process, I had to question it. We all know that sometimes what you have "heard through the grapevine" is not always necessarily true.

It is your duty to research something to the best of your abilities, especially if you want to get your own perspective. Just as people grow and evolve, businesses do as well. Ownership changes hands, leadership changes also. A company that has been in business 100 years may not be the same business it was back then.

This gentleman made me feel as if he was a know-it-all. Here was a 40-something year old man who believed he knew everything there was to know about human services. And yet, he admitted he didn't do a lot of research.

No matter your age, your experience, your skill set or your intelligence level, there is always something to learn. I don't understand how people stop the learning process because they feel they've mastered a certain level.

The beautiful thing about life is that there is always something to learn and master. And once you've mastered it, you work harder to even master more.

The lessons of life have no expiration date or timetable. Each day I have learned something new. How boring it would be if I closed myself off to growth?