Teach You, Teach Me

When we think about learning, we often imagine being in a school setting with a teacher at the front of a classroom ... or maybe we'd even go as far as imagining ourselves seeking out a mentor, a guide on our quest to learn all there is to learn about a particular topic of interest ...

And these are valid ideas. In fact, absolutely go and find yourself a mentor! There's always so much we can learn from other people's knowledge and experience.

But I want to let you in on a secret: Teaching others will also aid in our learning. Let me repeat that. TEACHING will help with our LEARNING.

Mind blown, right?

I think I've heard this advice somewhere before, but it was Felicia Day who cemented it:

"In a topsy-turvy fashion, mentorship from the opposite direction can be just as fruitful for our creativity. As in US helping OTHER people. Even if we don't feel qualified!"

Now, this could be said for anything, not just creativity ... but we're going to stick with creativity anyways, because that's my personal favourite topic.

The way Felicia explains it in Embrace Your Weird, communicating and explaining our creative process with other people can teach us about our process. Consider this for a minute: How often do you actually think about your creative process? For me, rarely, until a year ago ... and even now, I don't think about it as much as I could. If someone asked me tomorrow what my process is, I'd probably say "Uhhhhh ... I write? I write ... stuff."

In all seriousness, if someone came to me genuinely wanting some advice or guidance about something specific relating to creativity, like my creative process, I would have to take some time and come back to them with a 10-minute answer (maybe even some graphs and diagrams, if I was feeling cheeky). I would definitely need that reflection time of "What DO I do?" (Until enough people ask me and I start to have the process memorized ...)

Not only is it the act of reflecting that allows us to learn more about our process, but through actually explaining ourselves -- our knowledge, our wisdom, our routines, our habits -- as well. Because all someone has to do is ask "Why?" and we can learn SO MUCH. Unless you are absolutely prepared for it, a "Why?" can create a super deep train of thought ... especially if the person asks over and over again.

I went through a training recently where we were asked to share our vision with a partner. I shared that my vision is to become a published author ... and then my partner asked me "Why?" ... and I answered ... "Why?" ... I reflected and answered ... the third "Why?" was hard enough, but my partner ended up sneaking in a fourth "Why?" because she didn't count (we only had to go to three)! ... Not complaining, it was a great exercise.

Anyways, the "Why?" can lead to some enlightening revelations -- like, do I REALLY want to become a published author? (The answer is still yes ... but I did question why I was studying to become a teacher, and now here I am, a coach instead!) Between the acts of thinking about our process, the explanation of our process, and our process being questioned, we may begin to see some flaws in our system and/or discover ways to improve it.

How can we go about mentoring someone?

Your immediate answer may be to wait for someone to come to you ... but I believe there's always a way for us to find, or even create, our own opportunities. Like ...

1) Ask friends and family if you can spend 5-10 minutes with them, teaching them something you're knowledgable/passionate about. Explain that if they have any questions, they are free to ask -- encourage it!

2) If you're in college/university (maybe even high school?), see if there is a peer tutoring program at your school.

3) Search for opportunities in your community (or online) to present workshops. This will reach a larger audience than the one-on-one relationship, but you can still get some feedback and learn from the experience. (And maybe someone will reach out afterwards and seek further guidance!)

4) Teach. Offer a class -- put up posters, advertise on social media, whatever you need to do -- or post YouTube videos. (Again, larger audience, but still!)

Take action ... TODAY!

One of my favourite coaching questions is "What is one step you can take today towards your goal?" ... so, I'm asking you here: What is one step you can take towards becoming a mentor, and furthering your learning (particularly as a creative)?

(Note: This is my third article relating to EMBRACE YOUR WEIRD. The first, Treat Yourself Like a Research Project, is about exploring who you are as a creative, and the second, Combatting Creative Enemies, has incredible words of wisdom about creativity blocks/obstacles. If you enjoyed this article, please go check out the other two!)