Finding the right teachers and the power of small daily wins

Executive overview

Progress in wisdom and skill requires two things: finding teachers who open doors, and showing up daily to do small, unglamorous work. Great teachers reveal possibilities; bad ones close them. Once you find them, patience matters more than speed.

Small steps compound. Stoic philosophy urges incremental progress over chasing epic wins.

The person who shows up and does the work every day gets there; the person waiting for perfection never does.

Finding teachers who open doors

• Crates the Cynic, Zeno's teacher, was nicknamed "the door opener" — great teachers reveal what you didn't know was possible
• Bad teachers close doors; they kill curiosity and make you doubt your own intelligence
• Not finding the right teacher yet is different from not being capable
• You can't wait for the right teacher to appear — you have to seek them out
• Teachers don't have to be living; Marcus Aurelius learned as much from Epictetus' writings as from any living mentor
• The more you rush mastery, the longer it takes — a samurai student told "10 years" replied "what if I work harder?" and was told "then 30 years"

Small wins and incremental progress

• Zeno: "well-being is realized by small steps, but it is no small thing"
• Marcus Aurelius: be satisfied with even the smallest step forward; regard the outcome as a small thing
• Epictetus: we don't abandon pursuits because we despair of perfecting them
• Showing up and writing "just a couple crappy pages a day" produces a manuscript; you can't edit what doesn't exist
• The process itself solves problems — sitting down to work unlocks what waiting around never does
• Many small contributions add up: "many mickels make a muckle" (George Washington)
• Put your attention where you want your heart to be; let the process guide you to the inevitable outcome