Teaching

“No one learns as much about a subject as one who is forced to teach it.”

Peter Drucker

The best way to learn is to teach. And there was a time where the only way to be taught was to find a local teacher. Local could refer to either to geographic proximity – I can’t travel to Julliard every Wednesday, so I need to work with a piano tutor in my neighborhood. Or it could be relational proximity – working with someone with mutual trust.

Nowadays, we have access to pretty much anyone, which allows us to learn from anyone – should they choose to move their teaching online.

This even playing field of ideas has downsides to it also – because I can learn with anyone, why would I not seek the best education out there for myself?

This raises a challenge for those who seek to teach – whether vocationally or as a method to learn themselves. Why teach when you risk being put up for comparison with everyone else – including, likely, someone better?

I’ve thought about this a lot recently, as teaching others has been a thread throughout the past few years – whether educating people about sphere nurturing tactics via Contactually, running an online training collective w/ GoodSphere, or more recent exercises in closing the knowledge gap around blockchain/web3 with my friends and colleagues. Why should I teach, when they could hop on any number of sites to find the top-rated, top-ranked courses and lecturers?

In order to soothe my self-worth, there are a few tenets that have come up:

The bigger the group, the more education becomes unidirectional. Hopping on a 300 person Zoom call or sitting in a similar-sized lecture hall does not create an opportunity for intimacy and vulnerability.

The comfort that you’re teaching something that provides a stepping stool. What you teach, as long as it’s not completely wrong or misleading, allows them to fulfill their desired outcome. Those who want to can move upwards to another teacher.

Your own unique view. With GoodSphere, for example, I’m bringing together my knowledge about real estate, my understanding of habit formation, research around human relationships, my experience in mindfulness, and my innate knowledge around how CRMs work, all into one semi-coherent learning journey. Few can do that, providing my own personal monopoly.