How to Be a Modern Day Apprentice
Do you remember the first time you transitioned from the identity of “student” to “expert”? Maybe it happened slowly over time, through summer internships and other work experiences. Or maybe, as it was for me, there was a clear moment when you stepped into a role that required you to operate with a type of authority you hadn’t previously embodied.
Because I started my career as a management consultant (i.e. clients paid my firm for “experts”, so I was dubbed an “expert” at the ripe old age of 22), I had to step into an image of authority from Day 1.
This experience helped and hurt me in two really clear ways:
Helped: I gained loads of confidence early in my career. Through being forced to step into the role of expert, I had the opportunity to really “test my chops”, so to speak. And, seeing my work undergo intense scrutiny (for example, having the CEO of a multi-BILLION dollar client company personally review my work), and having it be commended, allowed me to get over some serious imposter syndrome.
Hurt: I wayyy over-indexed to the identity of expert, at the expense of the identity of student.
It’s taken me the better part of the last four years to find the right balance between having confidence in my knowledge and ability to add value as a leader, coach and consultant, and recognizing that there is so much that I DON’T know, and being a perpetual student is much closer to my reality (and frankly, all of our realities).
The frame I take on my commitment to lifelong learning is through the identity of the apprentice.
The four essential qualities of an apprentice are:
Curiosity
Humility
Respect (for the teacher & subject matter)
Work ethic
And the number one key to being a successful apprentice is to find TEACHERS that you respect, admire and have a sincere desire to learn from.
In our society, especially for millennials, we have been engrained with the belief that we deserve receiving anything we desire, immediately: status, material goods, relationships, a certain job, income. In practicing being an apprentice, that belief - entitlement to instant gratification - must be destroyed. And in its place, we must install the appreciation for the process of learning, the joy of being a student, and for returning to a state of open-minded curiosity.
I am ALWAYS on the hunt for people who know more than me. Who have mastered a skill that I recognize will unlock the next level of success, health or evolution for me, and who I can access in some form of apprenticeship, whether it’s reading their books, hearing them speak, or working with them 1:1.
A few of the teachers that I am currently “apprenticed” to include:
Business: Shannon Lutz of The Social Bungalow and Amy Porterfield of Digital Course Academy
Personal and Spiritual: Shaman Durek, Paramahansa Yogananda and Vasumati
I’ve apprenticed to each of these people in different ways. For example, I love listening to Amy’s weekly podcast and have also taken a course from her on how to build a digital product. I’m currently in a course of Shannon’s on marketing, and regularly watch her live virtual lectures on different business building principles. Shaman Durek, Yogananda and Vasumati are all spiritual leaders who I interact with through their audiobooks, writings, and live private virtual teachings and gatherings.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT a fan of guru-ship (guru worshipping).. And there is a very fine line between respecting someone’s knowledge and authority and blindly following them. I always advocate for individual autonomy, including in my client-coach relationships. If someone is saying or teaching something that doesn’t sit well with you (even if you can’t say why), it is ALWAYS more important to follow your gut than someone blindly.
I encourage you to think about who your current teachers are, and how you can consciously practice the four principles of excellent apprenticeship.
If you don’t know where to begin… start keeping an eye out for those people who are: living a life you admire, achieving the goals you seek to achieve yourself, inhabiting the roles that you aspire to reach.
Ultimately, we cut ourselves off at the knees when we don’t acknowledge that there are people out in the world who have done what we seek to do, and that their experience will help us get to our goals much faster.
Who are your teachers? How do you practice learning from those who have gone before you?
Share in a comment below so we can all learn from each other!
Your coach,
Julia
