Coming from a primarily business-based background (specifically business on the Internet) I’ve seen an unfortunate phenomenon in which students treat teachers with a guru-like worship; seeing them as infallible, all-knowing and downright perfect.
This is not as prevalent in most other areas, but remains a dangerous mindset to fall into, no matter what you’re learning about.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m just some guy writing about my journey to not being skinny, sharing as much of my knowledge (stemming mostly from my interest in personal development, success in other areas of my life and interest in philosophy) as possible.
But I’m a small fish in a big pond, so I not worried about people treating me like a guru (thankfully). What I am worried about is that it’s easy to become too attached to people who supposedly have your best interests at heart.
Remember that, everyone, even muscle building “gurus” are not perfect, they can be wrong, and no one, aside from perhaps a personal trainer, can account for your unique circumstances, quirks, hopes or fears. That’s on you, meaning you need to:
- Accept responsibility. No one will train for you. No one will eat for you. No one will recover for you. This is all on you, and you have to do it. Don’t get sucked into the vacuum of endless education as a way to obfuscate the need for actual work.
- Embrace adaptation. Or “be like water” as Bruce Lee famously said. No system will take you from A to B. You need to learn along the way, be mindful of your progress, and change your approach based on the feedback you receive from your experiences.
- Diversify your learning. I try to be quite broad in what I share, covering aspects of training, nutrition, and even philosophy…but there’s always more influences you can derive understanding from. Don’t limit yourself to the potentially incestuous world of strength training – there is valuable information to be learnt out of this sphere.
Oh, and if you ever see anything that says something along the lines of “this has all the answers and is the perfect strength training system,” run to the freakin’ hills. You don’t need that poison clouding your thoughts.
