Here’s the last reader-written-Farber-edited installment of the Greater Than Yourself discussion. (You may want to review Part 1 and Part 2). Thanks again to all who contributed–you’ve been immensely helpful in my writing and thought process…
Replicate Yourself:
Leave behind lessons you learned from those who taught you, and add your flair. Acknowledge that what you do every day effects others, so make your actions positive to keep the world turning in the right direction.
Teach Others to Teach Others to Fish, but first learn how people learn to fish. Change The World by changing yourself.
Too often people don’t want to learn to fish because it is so much easier to ask for the fish. How do I do this or how do I do that? These are questions we need to ask ourselves, not others. We live in a time that all these questions can be answered by going to Google and typing in what it is you want to know. So stop asking others. Make the time to answer the questions yourself.
Giving to others for their benefit can also be an impartation of the lifestyle I have chosen. They can learn in such a way that it helps them, and also helps them do the same for many others.
I teach what I most need to learn, so as I teach others to teach others to fish, it starts with what I BE. This is most effective, I think, when we are authentic with the BEING part, otherwise it could feel like manipulation, especially from the follower perspective (the teachee).
As we all learn together, we expand our total awareness, and the teachers as well as the students shift and grow and learn. When we can inspire others instead of motivate them (I love Lance Secretan’s distinction, and it fits with what I’m learning from A Course in Miracles: motivation is more fear-based and inspiration is more love-based), we all expand in our consciousness and awareness and impact.
Knowledge is not power — it’s a commodity. It’s how that knowledge is shared that gives it power. The best way to keep people down is by keeping them in the dark. Sharing knowledge shares your power.
Teach others the way of your happiness to gain absolute happiness for yourself. If you are truly happy with yourself then others will want to know why you are so happy. It is the happiness that you give to others that makes you so happy.
Sure, replicate yourself, but you also need to be constantly learning and finding those people – or parts of them – that you want to replicate IN yourself. I don’t know if that’s what you mean, but this sounds very “I know it, you don’t, and I have to teach you” to me. Isn’t it really bidirectional?
We’ve all been taught that it’s better to teach someone something than to do it for them – but who’s teaching the teachers! This is a real commitment to giving back and understanding that the job is so big and diverse that there will always be a need for more teachers. If you truly believe what you say and want to impact the world you need a bigger multiplier than just teaching others to do – you MUST teach them to teach.
Don’t tell me how, teach me how; subtle, maybe, but a HUGE difference. But educating others to educate is maybe the bigger goal. Making sure others understand the value is critical. I feel you do that through example/educating freely – people who get those educations are typically more likely to give them. The one obstacle in the corporate world is the power of knowledge and the greed associated with knowing something others don’t. So from a success standpoint, breaking that barrier is the key.
When you teach, teach with purpose to change the world around you.
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