Brian Gubernick argues that teaching others is the fastest way to master something. Preparing to teach forces deeper study, breaks complex ideas into simple pieces, and creates accountability. He used this to learn wealth-building, diet science, and relationship tactics, and recommends scheduling teaching sessions on your calendar to lock in the commitment.
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Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off Podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into today's topic. Today I'm going to be discussing teaching what you'd like to learn. Teaching what it is you'd like to learn. See, I firmly believe that if you want to better understand a specific subject or strategy or something that's important to you in your life, the best way to actually learn it is to be forced or to be prompted to teach it to others. Teaching what you want to learn is a very, very effective way to deepen your own understanding. Around whatever that subject may be. And here's, here's why I think that. Number one, and probably most importantly, when you are going to teach something to a group, to your family, to your peers, whoever it may be, you really want to make certain you know what you're talking about. So what do you do? You, you read more, you study more, you become more familiar, because when you share your insight, when you share your knowledge, You want to be accurate, and you certainly don't want to be a fraud. So you want to be knowledgeable. So when you choose to teach something that you're trying to better understand, you have to clarify your own understanding first. When you teach it to someone else, you also have to break it down, break the subject matter down into understandable bite-sized pieces, and explain it in a way, a simple enough way, that it makes sense to them. So this requires you to really not just become familiar with the material, but strategize and figure out how best to present that material. So for example, if, if you were going to teach wealth building, but I said, hey, I want you to teach that to your 12-year-old, well, how would you go about doing that? Well, you'd have to have pretty intimate knowledge of the subject, but you'd also have to figure out how to take what can be some complex terms or or strategies and lower them to the level of a child, right? So having to teach really deepens your understanding of the material. Number 2, when you teach, it provides a tremendous opportunity for you to practice, right? And gaining this valuable practice in applying and using the knowledge that you've now ascertained makes you that much more fluent, right? You are much more fluent and confident in the subject matter. So the opportunity to practice increases your confidence level. And again, all throughout this process, we have to constantly be referring back to our learning so that we can then turn around and then teach it. So lastly, and most importantly in my opinion, there is mass accountability around what it is you're learning, what it is you're talking around. There is a tremendous amount of accountability when you're standing up in front of a room or sitting in front of a group or maybe discussing it even at a dinner table. When you're speaking, when you're sharing, there's accountability in that, there's expectation that you know what you're talking about. And I can't speak for you, but again, I said this word earlier, I am never going to be a fraud when I'm teaching something. I'm going to know it intimately. Now, it doesn't mean I'm necessarily living it just yet, but I am sharing something that I've studied, I've gained confidence in, right? And I'm trying to, in essence, lead others, influence the thinking of others around that subject matter. I sure as heck better be confident in my knowledge. I sure as heck better be honorable and the opposite of fraudulent. In other words, I'm not making anything up. So in summary, if you want to learn something at a deeper level, what I challenge you to do is put a training session or a teaching session on the calendar. Now, this calendar may be formal in that maybe you're teaching it to your employees or your peers within the office, or maybe it's on the calendar like, hey, we have a family dinner and I'm going to teach my family about this. This subject matter. Let's go through some examples. I already said wealth, okay? What if we wanted to teach around health? What if I said, hey, you know, I'm trying to learn more about the best diet or the best food plan for this specific type of, of race, running race I'm going to do? Well, I want to become intimately knowledgeable. I want to really understand this, this, this information. So what if I teach my family about the diet that I'm intending to utilize? Well, if I'm going to share it with them, I'm probably going to have to learn it at a pretty deep level. What if I wanted to improve my relationships, increase my social fitness, something we talked about here just recently? I want to deepen my relationships, but I'm wondering, "Gosh, what do I do to deepen my relationships with my friends?" What if I put it on the calendar to teach those around me how to become, you know, better friend, how to be a better friend to someone, how to deepen a relationship? Again, I've got to go study it, but now I've got to be able to turn around and teach it. How much more knowledgeable must I be? And the accountability around that, by the way, once you throw it on the calendar, once you've committed to it on the calendar, Well, now you've committed to learning it because you're probably not going to feel great about having to cancel that event because you don't know your subject matter. Just not something you're going to do. So in conclusion, the focusing question for you today: What is it that you want to learn at a bit deeper level, and how can you use this strategy of forcing or prompting yourself to teach it to a group so that you have to deepen your knowledge in order to be successful in this presentation you're going to give. So what is it you're looking to learn and what can you get on the calendar today that puts you in front of a room or in front of a table teaching it to others? That's all I have for you today. The No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's go get after it. Thank you.
