Learner, Doer, Teacher ~ The Hero’s Journey
Photo by John O'Nolan on Unsplash
“In business, we go from learner to doer to teacher.”
That’s Williams at the Wizard Academy in his weekly Monday Morning Memo, in which he refers to this learner, doer, teacher path as the “hero’s journey.” I would argue that we do this with everything. I have been reading a lot lately about the changing of seasons, and just like nature, we are cyclically prompted to prepare for change.
We will participate in each role – learner, doer, teacher – several times throughout our lives. Just like the seasons, we get continued opportunities to start fresh, rebuild, master something, then share that wisdom with others. It’s even possible to be in each of these roles simultaneously. We may be beginning a new phase or journey and, at the same time, be able to provide teaching and guidance with another phase to someone else.
I am very clear about being mindful of respecting everyone’s journey wherever they are. Notice I said “mindful,” meaning I don’t always practice it. I have learned, and now I’m working on “doing” and hopefully can become a teacher.
When I focus on my own journey and appreciate we all have different paths, there is so much freedom, acceptance and forgiveness available.
One thing I have left to learn is mental toughness. I love sports and am fascinated by the fortitude of mind elite athletes demonstrate. The ability of a quarterback to stay in the pocket while a 250-pound human is hurling themselves toward him is remarkable. The tennis player serving an ace after a double fault that just lost the previous set, a golfer finding the green after sinking a ball in the water, or a gymnast getting back on the beam after falling off are all examples of the mental toughness I’m speaking of. These people are in the “doing” phase of their journey.
Watching the Astros during the ALCS, I was fascinated by the meetings at the mound. When a pitcher is struggling, the team gathers around and has a conversation with him. I always want to know what they are saying. In a post-game interview, one of the players was asked what he said to the pitcher, and I was surprised by the simplicity of the message.
He said, “You got this. I believe in you. Take your time.”
I thought, Is that it? If I were in that situation, would that calm me? Would I have the mental toughness to settle down? I don’t think I’m there yet, but it sure worked on that pitcher.
That’s the difference among us: where we are in our hero’s journey. In the mental toughness game, I am the learner, the Astros pitcher is the doer, and the team is the teacher. At any point and throughout the seasons of life, we are all here to learn, we are all here to do, and we are all here to teach.
What season of your “hero’s journey” are you in?
Safe traveling,
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