Are You Teachable? Becoming A Student Of Success

There is a difference between a bestselling author and one who has just picked up a pen to begin the journey in writing. The way they think and act can hardly be compared. These two are not at the same level. Ask each one the same question about any topic on writing and you will almost always get two very different answers.

It isn’t easy but I try my hardest to make those who are thinking of pursuing their passion… understand this very fundamental idea.

The beginner or amateur has a very flawed understanding of both success and failure in whichever industry he/she is in.

Most of the choices and actions taken by the beginner rarely lead to success because of this. Instead, most of the choices and actions end up leading to permanent defeat.

This is why your best approach to pursuing a passion is by adopting the mindset of one who knows nothing but is eager to learn. The mindset of a student or more specifically… an apprentice.

The most effective and efficient apprentice is one that has complete faith in the knowledge and wisdom already gained not by him or herself, but by knowledge and wisdom already gained by the masters of that field.

As a beginner or even one with just a few years of experience, it is a mistake to believe that you are capable of succeeding or failing solely by your current level of exposure in your field. You do not possess the necessary data to make a fair and accurate assessment of your potential.

In fact, as a student, it is wrong to waste time trying to assess your capability.

More time should be spent immersing yourself in the field in which you believe you are most interested.

Not skilled. Most interested in.

Growth in any field is intentional. You will learn and discover the most based on your curiosity, interest, and willingness to explore. Not by what you think you are great at.

Greatness in skill is a matter of practice, patience, and a commitment to get better.

That’s it.

You will not become a great music producer because of a trait or your genetic makeup. You will become great by practice.

There are those that deceive themselves by reinforcing in their minds, this belief of being born for this or being born for that.

But there is nothing in our biology that even remotely indicates that mechanics or engineering is engraved on some part of your body at birth… forcing you to pick that line of work once you mature.

Every single thing you have come to know… you have learned. Whether that is walking, eating, speaking, reading, writing, fighting, arguing, complaining, cooking, drinking, abusing drugs… you have learned either by being taught… or by emulation.

Then it is very very practical to also suggest to your mind that success in any field can also be attained by emulation.

Very few people are interested in pursuing success emulate their role models. They may read about their success, but they do very little to emulate them.

They know more about a success story than they do about their daily life. Their diets or reading habits.

That is always an indication to me that a person isn’t serious about becoming successful in a particular field.

I know many who know very little about industries they start businesses in, other than the fact that… those industries/businesses are lucrative.

You at least need to know more than the average person about that industry you intend to pursue.

You need to know way more about the role models you would like to be like… more than the media outlet that has published their success story.

That clearly shows you that the media outlet knows more about that person than they even expose to you. And the media outlet is probably not even in the same industry as the people write about.

History has got tales of people who accomplished a lot of great things because they were themselves once apprentices of greater masters. Those who were not exposed to such masters had a much harder time finding success.

The only way you could become a great blacksmith… is if you lived with one or worked for one.

Where would you get the knowledge to become a blacksmith if you had never been exposed to one working?

And yet we live in a world where the knowledge of how one can become a blacksmith… is available to a person that probably lives hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from one.

We have more documented success manuals than we have ever had in the history of the world.

We have it in form of text, video, and audio.

Yet we find it wise to pay attention to those who aren’t best-selling authors. Somehow we find it wiser to exchange ideas with those that have very little to do with success in a particular industry.

We listen and take in the advice of the inexperienced writer, music producer, game developer, software developer, singer, shoe salesperson, architect, and business owner.

No wonder success is more difficult to realize for the average dreamer.

Even some people’s understanding of how long it should take one to become a success after beginning the journey is skewed if not completely false. No two industries are the same. No journeys towards success are the same.

But the person or people that can give you the most accurate information regarding all this… are the masters of the field.

If you are a good student of success, you will pay just as much attention to the teacher as would a student in the 6th grade paying attention to his/her teacher in class.

When you begin relying on the knowledge and wisdom about your field on the people that have mastered it… you will finally understand the truth behind the success in that field.

The most important choice/decision you will ever have to continuously make as a person pursuing success… is whether or not you will be willing to learn your way to the top.

#makeProgressNotExcuses