Teach Yourself First

In his book, Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money, Rabbi Daniel Lapin refers to Deuteronomy 11:19 to give us the answer. Read the following excerpt from his book:

Three times each day, fervent Jews recite the sentence, “You shall teach them (these vital principles of successful and good living) to your children.”

Ancient Jewish wisdom points out that one letter is omitted in the Torah text from the word “them” allowing the word to also be read as “you.”

The verse now would read, “You shall teach (these vital principles of successful and good living) first to yourselves and then to your children.” From this well known sentence emerges the principle that if a father only has the tuition money to engage a teacher for himself or alternatively for his children, he is obliged to educate himself first.

Your Responsibility

Have you thought about this before? Maybe you have never been in the one-tuition-option situation before. Maybe you don’t expect to be in that position. I understand. Unfortunately, that does not at all change your responsibility.

See, the point here is that you should teach yourself first and with priority ahead of your children or employees. Read that again and make sure you understand how it applies to your situation.

I could quote all sorts of cliche sayings like these:

The speed of the team is the speed of the leader.

Leaders are readers and readers are leaders.

Are You Applying The Principle?

You have already heard these. You understand the principle. The question is whether you are applying the principle, with consistency, in your life and business.

Are you setting the pace in your learning? Are you committing the appropriate (and necessary) resources to your own education or are you waiting until you can better afford it?

Who Is Holding You Accountable?

A common problem for people like us is that too often, no one is telling us we have to go learn something. Our children are in school and receiving assignments from their teachers. Their education is put in front of them and virtually forced on them.

Our employees have certifications to pass, technology updates to learn, and product knowledge to absorb. Even if they are on cruise control, they still (most likely) have someone to teach them and keep up with their training for them.

But what about the leaders? What about us? Who is telling us what we should learn and when we should sharpen our saw? If you are like me, no one is there to do it. Instead, it is up to us to initiate it ourselves.

Are You Setting The Pace?

So, back to my earlier question…are you setting the pace? Do your employees know the value of ongoing education because they see you living it by example?

I encourage you to stop and take inventory of your education process. Take a minute and imagine you have hired yourself as a consultant. What would you tell yourself to do in the area of ongoing education? Are you prepared to take that advice?

What has been your approach to this idea?

Do you teach yourself first or hope to get to that later?

What changes do you need to make today?