I remember a few year back, a colleague and a mentor asked me why I was teaching. Her point was that I was making good money at my job and my career as an executive was thriving. She just didn’t see why I was focused on this and why it was priority.
I told her about a job I had in college teaching private music lessons to grade school kids. At the time, I was a pretty serious jazz saxophonist. I was gigging around Chicago and was highly dedicated to my own practice. However, I needed some additional income and I knew that I have to improve my clarinet and flute chops in order to get some commercial gigs. Let me be clear, this was PAINFUL work. To hear 9 year-olds squeaking and squawking on their clarinets for hours on end was physically taxing. I developed a whole new level of tolerance and patience. Don’t get me wrong, the kids were great and I liked helping them make progress, but the moment-to-moment was pure torture. However, I funny thing happened during that time. My own playing progressed at a much more rapid pace. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but I soon realized that these strides in my fairly sophisticated jazz practice were a direct result of those basic lessons I was teaching. Explaining things to a 9 year-old in a way that they could understand was helping me grasp concepts in a more complete way. It was like magic!
So the answer to my colleague’s question as simple. Teaching helps me just as much as it helps those that listen, watch or read. Sharing the lessons in my own experience requires that I reflect and analyze those experiences to glean wisdom from those moments. Going deep into great books- to get to the level where I can extract lessons and explain them concisely means that I have a deep understanding. And every time that I engage in this pursuit, I get a little clearer in my own thinking. I grow and get a little closer to my own potential. On another level, I love giving. I love the feeling that something I did made a difference to someone else. The idea that they will walk into their next meeting a little bit closer to their best self is inspiring.