Learning from an intermediate

If you wanted to learn to play basketball, would you rather learn it from the champion of your local high school basketball team, or from Michael Jordan?

Most people, I suspect, would love a basketball lesson from Michael Jordan.

But this is misguided.

The person you want to learn from is the intermediate who has just mastered the part of the skill that you’re about to engage with for the first time.

Here’s why.

The best teachers know how to break things down. When you’re an expert, and you’ve been doing your craft for decades, the skill becomes so ingrained that it’s harder to break down than it is for someone who was just in the novice phase.

You want someone who remembers the beats, the steps, the ladder…

You want someone who break down the skill technically, and that is most likely someone who is recently familiar with learning the skill.

The alternative is finding someone who has taught the skill for years, because they too have had practice breaking the skill down long after they’ve learned it.

But I’d imagine learning poetry from Bukowski would result in a lot of frustration.

The same way that watching a jazz guitar video of Joe Pass makes me want to give up, but a jazz teacher who is a few steps ahead of me makes me feel much more capable.