Want To Learn Faster? Stand Next To The Master

On Saturday morning I went to my regular Bodypump class. I was a little later than usual in getting there. Walking into the studio to set up my equipment I couldn’t help noticing that the other participants had already done so in a cluster at the back. Nevertheless, I took my place as usual at the front, right next to the instructor.

As the class started, I had a completely unimpeded view of her posture; how she was lifting her weights; and how she was moving in time with the music. Somewhere in my peripheral vision was the mirror’s reflection of the rest of the class. For sure, some of them were pretty fit and pretty good. But many hadn’t quite got the technique right, or were moving out of time with the music. Still, I didn’t have to be put off by any inaccurate postures or discordant tempos, because I could screen it out and look straight ahead to the teacher in front of me, and her model of what good exercising looked like.

As with most things I want to do well in life, I went straight to the person from whom I could learn the most, the best, and the fastest.

Looking back on corporate jobs I’ve done, the ones I most enjoyed were those where I aligned myself to people who were great leaders, both of people and of their business discipline. And as I’ve learned how to coach well; deepened my skills in psychology; and cracked the use of social media, I’ve always sought out people who were already at the top of their game and who stood out from the crowd of those who would imitate them.

In other words, I’ve stood next to the masters.

There are many imitations out there. Lots of people who herd together following the movements of those closest them, fooling themselves that that’s mastery. And it’s not like those people don’t have their followers, because they do. But ultimately there are a lot of echoes in our whole human system, because being an echo is safe.

It’s much more difficult to step away way from people who would be good and put yourself in the position of deciding not to leave the development of your mastery to chance.

In days gone by there was a way to develop oneself to the best of one’s abilities. It was called apprenticeship. A fledgling artist or crafts person would pay money to sit alongside the masters of their time and mimic their skill.

When the apprentice could easily reproduce what the master could do it was time for her to put her learning to the service of expressing her own art or craft. Thus her own journey to mastery began.

Now, I’m not suggesting you formally apprentice yourself to anyone. But the model of identifying the best person you can learn from, and actively getting alongside them is a useful one if you have the vision of being at the top of your game in any field.

Indeed, you may want to identify several masters from whom you can perfect distinct aspects of your craft.

Think about it: what does mastery mean to you? Who are your masters? What’s stopping you from standing more closely to them?

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