Ian M Rountree

Copywriter, Project Manager, Digital Marketing

Disciples – Learning to Learn

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Developing the skill of critical learning can be very difficult. Seth Godin writes often about the current mass education system being designed to teach conformity rather than critical thinking, and unfortunately, I think he’s right – in general.

Critical learning is not the act of learning something important – it’s the process of learning critically.

Critical learning is the process through which your lessons are validated against your own internal knowledge, and harmonized with your ethic. In many cases, this can include unlearning much of your assumed knowledge, something that education as an institution does not adequately prepare us for. How much algebra and trigonometry do you use in your daily life? Not much. But what volume of that knowledge harmonizes well with consumer maths like taxes, ROI and others? Likely not much, unless you took business math courses.

Over-using the skill of critical learning can often send us into analysis paralysis.

It’s difficult not to over-think new skills. Harmonizing new knowledge with our assumptions and existing skills can encourage long bouts of comparative analysis, tracking, validation and, worse, the burgeoning fear of incomplete knowledge.

The easiest way to stop this process is to check everything against a simply mantra: What is this information for. What does it do? What does this knowledge enable me to accomplish?

Disciples have it particularly hard. We barely even know what we don’t know.

Being stuck with known unknowns is annoying, and can lead to over-zealous research. However, being stuck laboring with unknown unknowns can be even worse – many people, in the process of being groomed as Disciples are, either become prone to drastic errors because they over-assume their skill. Worse still, some become paralyzed by the certain sense of impending teaching, and fear to act before any lesson.

What does this mean as a Disciple?

When you’re learning, communication is important. In an educational or academic setting this usually consists of assignments given, then submitted, then marked and returned. All learning is retroactive and, thus, built for compliance rather than progress.

In a Discipline setting, communicative learning is far more active. You can’t just take instruction and run with it – when you’re a disciple, rather than just being a student, every lesson is live steel. Running is a bad idea unless you already know exactly what to do with the sharp edge of your new skills. Communicate with your teachers, confirm your instructions, and always be checking in.

What does this mean as a Teacher?

Academics and education are poor places for invested teachers. Those truly dedicated to the growth of their supplicants may find they strain under the retroactive, formulaic process of reportable teaching. There are always ways to stretch the experience – but the system is very fragile, and stretching into a Discipline structure without universal (system-wide) support may cause more issues than it remedies.

As the mentor of Disciples, your job is far more labor-intensive, and far more rewarding – but only if you do it right. As the soldier’s adage goes; as someone in a critical role, your job is to make yourself obsolete by, in essence, preparing your replacement. For soldiers that means making way for peace. For teachers, that means fostering such perfect competence and confidence – and communication – that your Disciples could replace you when they’re prepared.

Letting go of your learning formula will be difficult.

However, allowing real experience to guide your growth, and letting text books act as a simple reference, is one of the most effective ways to ensure sustainable, teachable growth.

The Disciple / Apostle Conversion

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When was the last time you were promoted? What about the last time you found yourself alone, on a mission, without backup or resources? or the last time you realized you were no longer learning, simply doing?

How about the last time you changed position from that of a follower, to a leader?

It’s difficult. No one hands you a manual and says go to it. No one can possibly prepare you for the gap that you face when your accountability goes from being external – having a supervisor – to being internal, and doing the work for yourself.

The change, in part, can be thought of as the difference between being a Disciple, and becoming an Apostle.

It’s not an idea people give much thought to, so I’ll try to lay out the analogy fairly clearly. For awareness, I’m speaking strictly in the sense of the role, not in the sense of the historical, theological use we’re so accustomed to.

Basically, the difference is this; a Disiple is a booster, someone whose main role is support. They’re in a role to learn, be an aide, and grow as an advanced follower of a concept or person. However, the thing you’re following – the leader, the cause, what have you – always goes away.

As we grow, we lose the need for certain levels of leadership. Oversight becomes less beneficial. We learn all the lessons we can. So, eventually, that tether to the thing pulling us forward goes away. We out-earn our positions in companies, outgrow our mentors. Sometimes our mentors are taken from us by force. When that happens, we have a choice. We can either find a new cause, or continue the work underour own direction.

I like to think of this as the Apostolic Shift.

The Apostle is very different from the Disciple. Where the Disciple follows a Leader, the Apostle works largely alone. Disciples are usually kept close at hand, to directly aid in the work of the leader and the cause. Apostles often strike out on their own with limited resources and only the work of their hands and tools to prove their message.

They may gain followers, they may move toward something (such as a cause) but the Apostle has changed from being led, to steering their own ship. Some Apostles even begin to look for their own Disciples to help them do the work that has become larger than themselves. It’s a big jump, requiring more than just ability, training, experience or knowledge. It requires a drive that, frankly, the massive bulk of people simply don’t have.

If you’re out there, doing the work on your own, working for yourself in every situation, it’s likely that you’ve survived an Apostolic Shift at least once in your life. What was that like?