We constantly hear the importance of teaching as we become more advanced in our martial arts journey. Some may struggle to grasp the importance of this and may even have some resistance to this thinking that if they are spending so much of their time teaching, how will they have the time for their own training and their own technical betterment. There is also the age old cliche of “Those who can’t do, teach.” In The Little Book of Talent, Daniel Coyle rewrites this quote into “Doers who teach, do better (Coyle 105)!”
We need to look at this statement more closely to get a better understanding of how to employ teaching to our own technical betterment. Coyle very intentionally does not begin his sentence with “Those who teach”, but with “Doers who teach”. If we simply teach without continuing to be a doer, we will not improve, but if we teach as we are simultaneously trying to improve our own technique and push ourselves, we will reach a new level. To be the best, we must simultaneously be a teacher, but always a student.
In the most simple sense, when we teach we always should make sure that we can do what we expect out of our students. I know at least for me, as a colored belt during my childhood, I struggled with breaking boards. There were certain breaks that I was not successful with that I simply did not do when it came time for my black belt tests and I was presented with a choice. When I started Fighting Hawk Tang Soo Do, I forced myself to go back and make sure I could demonstrate and understand the keys to success for those breaks that I struggled with, but would expect my students to demonstrate. In doing so I had to understand what worked, and what I was initially doing and reconcile the difference. I also had to learn how to explain these things in a way that students would understand. This caused me to create an understanding of techniques that was simple, concrete and most importantly repeatable!
Just like in my story about breaking, There are three basic questions teaching will make us ask ourselves in our own training: How am I doing certain techniques? How am I supposed to do this technique? How can I explain this technique in a way that is small and repeatable? We all hear the cliche that expertise in a technique is not simply doing a technique correctly once, it is reaching a point where we never do a technique wrong. This repeatability and intentional analysis will lead us in our own training to become more proficient, efficient and consistent. Many consider these things to be the hallmarks of a master level practitioner.
Obviously, The Little Book of Talent is not strictly a martial arts book, this idea of teaching to improve technique applies to all other aspects of your life. Take advantage of any opportunity to lead, present or mentor in your professional life, in doing so your understanding and proficiency will improve as well as your ability to take a systematic approach to any challenge!
Sources:
Coyle, Daniel. The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Skills. Bantam Books, 2012.
