Mirrors and Reflections

Teachable – The Quest for Personal Discovery

This week’s subject is the attitude of being teachable. Every expert was once an amateur who was willing to learn. Being a learner who is willing to receive feedback from a teacher, a coach, even a ‘peer’, is key to growth. Pride kills growth faster than failure does.

The movie that displays this attitude is American Shaolin. In the movie, a student wants to become a Shaolin monk. The Sensei, the head trainer, chases him away. But the boy stays at the gate for the entire training season. Rain didn’t chase him away. Hunger didn’t chase him away. Cold didn’t chase him away. He refused to go back home as the same person he was before. He wanted to be a Shaolin.

I saw the same thing in the youth clubI am attached to. The learners who changed fastest were not the smartest. They were the ones who could sit still when I corrected their lines, who didn’t argue when I told them to run the scene again. They were teachable. The ones who argued, who said “I know,” stayed stuck in misery.

Here are a few things I take from this:

*1. The determination to transform yourself is personal.* 

You’re not going to school, to training, to practice for anybody but yourself. Your role is to prepare your mind to absorb knowledge and fill it with what increases your capacity. You have to pay the sacrifice for what you want. It’s true what they say: easy come, easy go. Seasons should never make you back off. They should motivate you to stay the course. Winter doesn’t stop the sun from rising. It just tests if you still want the light.

*2. Being teachable creates the environment for transformation.* 

Discipline produces good living for those trained by it. If you don’t respect yourself, you won’t respect others. It starts with you. Training may feel like punishment, but the truth is, those who don’t value training will always complain about missed opportunities. You can’t be offended by correction and expect to be elevated by it.

*3. Have a personal vision and protect it.* 

See yourself ten years from now. Time is of the essence. Be like an eagle — see the target from a distance, and don’t break focus for the small things on the ground. In this winter season, don’t let cold weather dictate what you do. Don’t let your peers dictate who you become. Don’t let one “no” from a Sensei make you forget why you showed up.

*Teachable people are not weak. They are dangerous.* 

Because they keep learning, they keep growing, and they refuse to stay stuck. The boy at the gate became a monk. The learner in the back row became the one on stage. The only question is: will you stay at the gate, or will you go home the same?

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