Learn, Do, Teach
Learn, Do, Teach: 3 fundamentals of doing anything well
Getting good at stuff is an integral part of life. Whether it’s a need or a want; a career or a hobby — there is inherent and external reward for getting good at things. By gaining competence in something you are able to do whatever it is you wanted to do — which is a reward in its self. Moreover you can help others, exchange your efforts for resources, impress people and gain their respect (social acceptance), form relationships over shared interests, feel meaning, relax, have fun etc.
Simply put it is good to be good at stuff. Often the more time you put into something the more you will get out of it. You need to ensure your limited time resources are being put into the right things for you and you need to use the time wisely but generally; more in = more out.
To get good at anything over the long term you should be splitting your time and efforts into these 3 areas:
Learning
Input. You are primarily taking things in. Reading, researching, education, courses, certifications, videos, audio, events, practise etc.
Doing
Output. Do the thing. Whatever it is. Work on real projects that have some measurable outputs
Teaching
Output. Translate the work you are doing to others. Help them out.
Is it all the same?!
You may think that with most things the ark is to learn for a while then do for a while and then maybe teach. There is some truth to this but more often it’s everything all of the time.
On one level it’s important to understand the 3 distinct areas to make sure you are planning actions in all of the areas. But on another level it all merges in to one.
Often when you are learning you will also be trying things and practising and actually creating things or performing which is doing.
As you are doing, if you zoom in it’s often more about learning and then executing in short cycles and otherwise you simply do learn through experience. Finding good ways and bad ways to do things. Often, you are not working in isolation. You are often working and helping others as you go which is teaching. If you work in teams you may regularly demo your individual work as part of the doing.
When you are teaching you are always learning as it always forces you to focus and be as clear as possible. And you will often also be doing as practical things are always appreciated by audiences and help others learn.
Examples
Taking examples that I use to manage my own development. If you think much about any single activity the lines get quire blurred.
Learning
- Certifications.
- Reading: Books, essays, blogs, other resources.
- Watching / listening: Knowledge Transfers / Meetups / Conferences.
- Doing: Learning to achieve tasks.
Doing
- Personal projects.
- Open source projects.
- Enterprise work.
- Nonprofit / other organisational projects.
Teaching
- Writing: Blogs, Technical discussion forums, Books (eventually).
- Speaking: Teams / Organisations / Meetups / Conferences.
- Doing: Teaching as you work together with others.
- Courses: Developing or getting involved with more structured training in an area.
