When we want to learn something, we might be inclined to find someone with more experience than us and ask that they teach us what they know. Learning from the experiences of others is generally much faster than trying to experience everything first-hand, so it’s typically a good approach.

Except there’s one problem.

In Victor Wooten’s The Music Lesson, Victor’s teacher has a habit of pushing back every time that Victor asks that he is taught something. The teacher is quick to point out that we can’t “be taught” anything. We can be shown something by a teacher, but it’s on us to learn.

This seems trivial, and I was a bit annoyed the first few times it came up in the book. But as I’ve spent more time reflecting and observing my own behavior, I’ve come to believe that it’s true.

The mindset that we take while learning a new skill, or really doing anything, has a huge impact on the outcome. An hour with the greatest teacher in the world can be useless if the student’s mind isn’t in the right place, but that same time can be invaluable if the student is fully present and receptive to learning.

It seems like a semantic issue, but it’s much more than that. The teacher has an important role to play to enable the possibility for learning to take place, but the onus is ultimately on the student.

-Brandon