When The Student Is Ready, The Teacher Will Appear

Discover the deeper meaning behind this quote, and understand your 'Hero's Journey' in the chess world.

Introduction

'When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.'

We've all heard this quote before, but have you ever wondered about its deeper meaning?

Let's start with the easy part - the student.

You identify as an adult chess improver; you probably wouldn't be reading my content if you didn't.

Before I discuss what it means to be ready (and to not be ready), I should clarify that the 'teacher' doesn't always come in the form of a person.

The Many Forms Of The 'Teacher'

We can learn from a lot of things:

- Mentors
- Videos
- Written material
- Your own experiences
- A challenge
- Our own reflections

My role as a coach starts with helping you learn the proper lessons from your experiences and evolve those insights into a simple yet effective plan to achieve what you want (clearing the obstacles blocking your path to the next level of chess play).

But coaching isn't ultimately about me; it's about you.

What Stops Us From Being 'Ready'? 

Here are some things that stop the student from being 'ready' for that teacher to appear:

- Lack of awareness: We need to realise that we are facing a problem and do something to solve it. No matter how much external success or 'inner peace' we cultivate, there will always be new challenges to overcome, for change is a universal law of life.

- Having a closed or 'fixed' mindset: Something I began appreciating from my recent study of non-chess resources is that most of us don't have a '100% fixed' or '100% growth' mindset; instead, we have a growth mindset for the things we identify with and know we can improve, and a fixed mindset for the things we are ignorant about, or believe we lack the capacity for.

- A lack of 'Spark': You might intellectually understand that something is good for you to do. But until your emotions and greater purpose align with that action, you'll keep putting it off in favour of things that more closely align with who you are (and not who you want to be).

- Giving up too quickly: Continuing from the last point, we will be far less persistent and resilient for things we have yet to absorb as part of our identity. When we understand the journey of improvement well and accept that this journey will not always be easy - challenges and setbacks will occur - we mentally prepare ourselves to respond better to those challenges. (The Stoic philosophy refers to anticipating bad events to reduce their impact as 'premeditation malorum', but we chess players have a more straightforward word - prophylaxis).

Refusing The Calling

I'll conclude these musings with part of a storytelling framework called 'The Hero's Journey', as I have noticed the connections between the films I watch and my improvement journey.

One of the more counter-intuitive parts of virtually every great film you watch or story you read is where the hero 'refuses the calling'.

Think of Frodo Baggins in Lord Of The Rings initially hesitating to take the Ring beyond the Shire.

Or Simba refusing to return to the Pride Lands to take his place as king...

Or, as I watched yesterday, Barbie refusing to go back to the 'Real World' (and out of Barbie Land)...

This happens in the real world as well.

Our Initial Emotional Response To Change

For almost every significant change you made, you likely experienced some of these emotions beforehand:

- Fear - our minds are conditioned to protect us, and change forces us out of that 'safe space'. We desire adventure yet need certainty, even if that certainty is mediocre.

- Contentment - we may feel satisfied with where we are now, but growth only happens outside our comfort zone. (which is why you eventually get bored when you stay in the same place for a long time)

- Lack of Confidence - we believe we need help to do that. Or that we deserve the great things we could gain from it.

- Responsibility—We convince ourselves that the calling will limit our capacity to do essential things. (For instance, we might think improving our chess will mean less time with our kids and not appreciate how emphasizing our personal growth makes us a much better role model for our kids.)

What This Means For You

If this is one of the very first posts of mine you've read, you are likely feeling that 'refusal of the call'.

The old me would have got in my own head and overthought things.

Now, I know that it's just part of the process.

Most of you won't be ready right now.

But if you're willing to become ready, you now know the framework for setting up great adventures (and more exciting challenges) in your life.

Comment below: Where are you at in your 'Hero's Journey'? What's the shift you are working on right now?