First we learn.

Then we do.

Then we teach others.

In all good communities of people who have skills, talents, or understanding, there is an order to the succession of that community.

Beginners enter the community and are excited to learn and grow and get better. Mastery is a long, slow process of doing and practicing and ever-improving. And eventually those who reach a state of skillfulness — while not forced to become mentors and instructors in their craft — are met with the choice of challenge of giving back to their communities by teaching and supporting the beginners and everyone as a means to keeping the craft alive and strong.

For those who believe in the sustainability of what they practice, that choice is an obvious one, maybe even a moral imperative.

Some days I find myself as a beginner learning new skills in new crafts from the thousands who have gone down the path before me.

Some days I just do.

And some days I pause to lead and advise and offer support in the things of which I seem to have gathered decades of experience and can nurture those twenty years behind me.

What is your day’s work? Learning, doing, or teaching?