“Each fighter, to become great, he said, needs to have someone better that they can learn from, someone lesser who they can teach, and someone equal that they can challenge themselves against.” Frank Shamrock’s system for training fighters as highlighted in Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday
I spent years working in recreation, creating healthy physical opportunities for everyone from infants to seniors. The most progress that we’d see would be in mixed groups. When reading Frank Shamrock’s system for training fighters listed in Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday, it reminded me of the systems that I used to put into place to help others achieve greatness. Holiday writes, “Each fighter, to become great, he said, needs to have someone better that they can learn from, someone lesser who they can teach, and someone equal that they can challenge themselves against.” Substitute the word ‘each fighter’ for ‘each person’ and you now have your formula for success.
While working as a learning strategist, students would often ask how to best learn their topics. I would describe a three-prong attack and very few would tackle it. Some would spend hours with a tutor (someone better than them), some would work in a study group (someone equal that they can challenge), and I’m pretty sure about 0% ever pursued teaching someone else the topic with the common refrain that it was a waste of time. In fact, many would complain that study groups were a waste of time, as it was mostly them teaching everyone else. I would explain to them the value of that, but they would think otherwise.
One of my favourite tasks is finding mentors in my areas of interest. I’m genuinely interested in knowing their journey and hearing about their successes and challenges. I, then, like to seek other like minded people to connect with in a group. We may not all work on the same project, but we will all have a similar project that we’re working on. The third step is then sharing the information that I’ve gleaned from mentors and peers with mentees. This is a strategy that allows me to learn, practice, and share.
What task are you presently hoping to learn? How can you take Frank Shamrock’s approach of “Each fighter, to become great, he said, needs to have someone better that they can learn from, someone lesser who they can teach, and someone equal that they can challenge themselves against,” and implement it in your life?
