Your BEST Teacher

Look back over your life.  

It doesn't matter if it's only a decade or two, or longer, spanning many, many decades.

Who was your best teacher?

Who taught you the most?  Who challenged you to learn the most?  Who made you think the most?  Who made you most inquisitive?  Who made the most of your interests?  Who made the most of your failures?  Who's influence continues to stimulate you to learn today?  And who's influence will continue to stimulate you to continue learning into the future, until the day you die?

Who was that teacher?

Was it a school teacher?  Perhaps a parent?  A friend?  A co-worker?  A mentor?  A spouse?  A child?  Are they alive? Or have they passed away?  Who was it?

Your best teacher.

While there are many people in all of our lives that stimulate us to learn and continue to grow, I believe that there is one person in each person's lives that can, or should make a dramatic difference.  I also believe that behind every success story, there is the same person that remains unidentified as the real teacher in those individuals' lives.  Without this person in their lives, nothing would have been possible.

It's YOU.

While we all seem to think outside of ourselves when we look for the influence that made us what we are, there is one fact that is central to our success.  We have chosen to learn.  To learn from others.  To learn from our experiences.  To learn from our reading.  To learn from our listening. To learn from our friends.  To learn from our teachers.  To learn from life.

If we had not chosen to learn, we would have not learned.

We are our own schoolmasters.  Without us choosing to learn, nothing around us would have mattered.  Not the schools.  Not the people. Not books. Not experiences.  Nothing.  Want proof?  Just look around.  I am sure you will be able to identify many who have not been as successful.  Perhaps their internal "schoolmaster" wasn't sufficiently demanding.  Perhaps they didn't have their own best interest in mind.  

Thank Yourself

In the end, your education and success in life is entirely your responsibility.  It's up to you if you continue to learn and progress or coast to mediocrity.

It's time to look in the mirror and acknowledge that you are what you have made yourself.

If it's good, then congratulations are in order.  If not, introspection and re-evaluation are in order.

Regardless if you like what you see in that mirror or not,

You are responsible for it.

You alone are responsible in the future for the self-teaching you provide for yourself today. 

Are you your best schoolmaster?