Teach Yourself

Tell me…I mean, technically you can’t because you’re reading a blog and I’m not there either, but you get what I’m saying.

So tell me.

What’s going on in that head of yours?What’s going on in your heart? Your mind? What’s really going on up there—or should I say, in there?

Have you put any thought into that?

Are you just going through life because you were forced to breathe in that body assigned to you at birth?

In other words…

Do you give a darn?Have you taken notice of what’s active or inactive in the surroundings you find yourself in?

What kind of circumstances are you in?

What about where you’re headed?

Can you see the next stoplight or the next right turn?

I don’t mean physically. I’m asking if you can see where you’re headed next year—or perhaps the next five years.I guess what I really want to know is:

Are you paying attention?

Life is complicated. It’s very easy to get lost in it.Most of us can fall into going through the motions, doing the bare minimum.

It is what it is.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. In fact, sometimes that’s very true.But there’s more to life than being empty.We’ve got to learn how to fill our lives with life.

Think about a tree that’s drying up.It’s painful to watch.Somehow, somewhere, it lost touch with water.

Water gives life. Wherever there is abundant water, you’ll usually find a thriving environment.

I think we can dry up in a similar way.

Teaching yourself can become a way of watering your life…

When you stop paying attention to yourself and the life happening around you, sure—you can get by.But there’s more to life than becoming stale.Learn to pay attention to what’s going on.Learn how to manage it.

Learn from it.

Teach yourself.

But first…

I’m asking: Do you even care?

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Are You Satisfied With Life?

Life is full.There is so much out there.Different sounds for your ears. Colors of all sorts for your eyes. Tasty experiences that can bring a little joy into an ordinary day.

But if you don’t care, all of that can pass you by.

You’ll miss it.

I’m not here to shame you if you’re living a complacent life. Instead, I want to give you something to think about.

Start with this:

Are you satisfied with your life?

I’ll be honest.

If I’m going to answer truthfully, there was a time when my answer was no.

I’ve failed so many times trying to become my own boss and make my own money.After ten years, that starts to beat on you.Eventually, I came to peace with something I hadn’t expected: I realized I was okay serving another person’s dream.And once I honestly answered why I wasn’t satisfied, I discovered something about myself.

I have a passion for serving others.

So I started finding ways to use that strength.Since I began my journey of serving others, my satisfaction with life started coming alive again.

That’s why you need to answer this question honestly.

Because once you understand why you’re satisfied—or why you’re not—you have a better chance of figuring out your next step.That’s part of teaching yourself.

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Do You Know Your Accomplishments and Failures?

Knowing your accomplishments and failures is like having a meter or gauge.It gives you a reading.It shows you where you’ve been, where you stand, and maybe even where you’re headed.So name one accomplishment you currently have under your belt.

Then ask yourself:

What strength did I need in order to accomplish that?

Now do the opposite.

Think about a failure you’ve had.

Ask yourself:

What weakness in me contributed to that failure?

Don’t do this to beat yourself up.Do it because your own history contains information about you. Your accomplishments can reveal your strengths. Your failures can expose weaknesses. And when you’re trying to teach yourself, knowing both gives you a much better understanding of how to carry out the lesson.

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How Do Others View You?

This one is tricky because you can’t completely answer it.You don’t live inside somebody else’s head.But there’s a reason I think this question matters.

When you teach yourself, you need to develop the ability to step outside yourself for a moment and look back at yourself.Try seeing your actions through another person’s lens.

How might that have sounded?

How might I have looked?

What would I think if I watched somebody else do what I just did?

Learning to look at yourself from the outside can help you identify things you normally wouldn’t see.

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Get to Know Yourself

Going through the motions without teaching yourself is like eating cold pizza your entire life.Little do you know how different it is biting into fresh pizza straight out of the oven.

Major difference.

Or imagine you’ve driven the same car your whole life. The windows don’t roll down. The AC doesn’t work. The motor sputters all the time.

That’s simply what driving is to you.

Little do you know what it feels like to roll the windows down going 55 mph when the wind hits just right… or to blast the AC when you’re exhausted from the heat and that cold air hits so good you almost want to pull over and take a nap right there.

The mood is just right.

Teaching yourself can do something similar to your life.It can expose you to things you weren’t noticing before.There are bright colors to see, beautiful melodies to hear, things to experience and pieces of yourself to discover.

There’s so much to life.

But it’ll pass you by if you keep passing it by. When you teach yourself, you start developing a relationship with yourself.You begin learning your strengths and weaknesses.You begin discovering what kind of person you actually are.

You’ll notice things like:

“Hey, every time I get home from work, I forget my backpack in the car.“

Or:

“Why do I always get mad when somebody tries talking to me right after I wake up?”

Or:

“I really like listening to audio recordings when I’m studying for English class.“

Those little observations are information. You’re learning how you work. But don’t stop at noticing.

Teach Yourself Through the Problem

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NOTICE + QUESTION + ANSWER + ACTION + RESULT = LESSON

Let’s start with the backpack. You keep getting home from work and leaving it in the car. Instead of simply saying, ” I always do that,” ask yourself:

Why?

Maybe the moment you pull into the driveway, your mind is already focused on getting inside.

Okay.

You just learned something about yourself. Now do something with it. Maybe tomorrow you put your backpack in the passenger seat where you’ll see it before getting out.

Try it.

Did it work?

Good.

If it didn’t, try something else.

You noticed a pattern, questioned it, made an adjustment and tested your solution.

That’s teaching yourself.

But sometimes what you discover isn’t just an inconvenient habit. Sometimes it’s a weakness.

Let’s go back to:

“Why do I always get mad when somebody tries talking to me right after I wake up?”

Hmm…

Maybe it’s because I haven’t had my morning coffee yet. Maybe my senses aren’t fully operational. So I’ll try staying in my room, drinking a cup of coffee and giving myself some time to fully wake up.

If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll respectfully give everyone a friendly warning:

“Give me a little time to wake up.”

See, I realized something about myself. I can be disrespectful in the morning. That’s a weakness of mine. Instead of accepting it as “that’s just how I am,” I can create a boundary that helps me manage it.

And if that still doesn’t solve the problem?

Maybe I ask a doctor about it. Maybe I talk to a friend who’s experienced something similar. Maybe somebody else knows something I don’t.

And by the way…

that opens up a whole new world of learning. Teaching yourself doesn’t mean you have to know everything yourself. Sometimes teaching yourself leads you to somebody else who can teach you something new.

And then it compounds.

Learning from your own teaching becomes a secret multiplier for your knowledge. But teaching yourself isn’t only about identifying problems and weaknesses.

Sometimes you discover something that’s already working.

“I really like listening to audio recordings when I’m studying English.”

That’s weird.

But I guess in a good way.

Why do I like it?

I notice that listening keeps me focused. When I’m just reading, sometimes my mind takes off with whatever random thought happens to pop into my head.

Okay…

I just learned something about myself.

Audio helps me focus.

So why only use it for English?

Maybe for my other subjects I’ll start looking for audio recordings too and see if they help me learn even better. I found something that works for me, understood why it works, and figured out where else I could use it. That’s teaching yourself too.

You can identify a pattern and change it.

You can identify a weakness and learn to manage it.

And you can identify something that works and learn how to use it even more.

Talk to yourself.

Answer yourself.

Don’t be shy about it.

Be honest.

Imagine walking up to yourself for the first time and starting a conversation. What would you learn about that person?

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So… How Do You Teach Yourself?

Teaching yourself is a little like eating food.You’re not going to eat an entire steak in one bite.You take a knife, cut off a piece, grab your fork and take a bite.

But it doesn’t stop there.

You still have to chew it. The piece is small enough to fit in your mouth, but it’s still too big to swallow safely.

So you keep breaking it down…

until you’re able to take it in.

Do the same thing with things you don’t understand.

Break them down. Then break them down again. Keep going until the lesson becomes clear enough for you to digest.

Teaching yourself is also like quenching your own thirst.

But first…

you have to thirst.

That’s why caring matters. When you start caring, you develop awareness. Awareness helps you recognize the thirst. And once you recognize it, you start looking for the water.

The act of discovering the solution becomes the cup of water you just chugged down.

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Become the Teacher and the Student

When you teach yourself, you become both:

the student and the teacher,

the parent and the child,

the friend and the friend.

From the teacher’s perspective, you’re trying to understand what needs to be done. From the student’s perspective, you’re willing to mess up, try again and keep learning until the lesson finally sticks.

Imagine you’re going through your day and realize you forgot to order dinner.All you’ve got is a box of macaroni and some water.

There’s one problem:

You don’t know how to cook.Your other option is to go hungry.

This is where teaching yourself becomes the standard.

Grab the box. Read the instructions. Understand them. Before you start, tell yourself what you’re about to do. Break the instructions down until they make sense in your head.

Then try.

Maybe you overcook the macaroni. Maybe you put the cheese packet in too late.

It happens.

Teaching yourself means you keep learning. Now you’re in a better position for next time. Whenever you don’t understand what to do, break it down until it becomes clear.

Try.

Pay attention to what happened.

Correct yourself.

Try again.

After a while, you’ll start flowing more naturally because you’ve practiced the ability to teach yourself. And you may begin encountering things in life that you never realized were there.

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Don’t Be Afraid to Learn From Yourself

Teaching yourself builds you up. It edifies you. It updates you. It helps you optimize the way you operate. And it isn’t only about learning physical actions.

You can teach yourself about the mental and spiritual parts of your life too.

Learn to ask yourself questions—all kinds of questions. But there’s one requirement:

Answer yourself truthfully, honestly and wholeheartedly.

Think about going to the doctor. You give the doctor as much accurate information as you can because that information helps them understand how to treat you. Treat your own questions with that same honesty.

Ask yourself philosophical questions. Learn how to work on your car. Ask where you’re headed. Ask where you want to go.

Ask:

Am I content with myself?

Why?

Why not?

Sometimes you won’t know the answer immediately.

That’s okay. Chew on it. Break it down. Try explaining it to yourself in different ways. Experiment with different solutions. Pay attention to what works for you and what doesn’t. And little by little, get to know the person you’re responsible for teaching.

You.

So the next time you find yourself saying…

“No, I can’t.”

Remember:

That may be the exact moment the lesson begins.

The moment you step from one level…

onto the next.

Pound it.