Teaching More Can Lead to Increased Authenticity

What’s one of the best ways to learn? It’s to teach!

When I was in high school and college, I always felt the way I learned best was by teaching because the more I spoke about a particular subject or project, the clearer it became to me.  Even if I didn’t fully grasp it at first, the more I shared and taught, the better I came to understand it.

Back in high school, I loved math. I loved to solve problems and race against the calculator. I enjoyed this so much that I started tutoring people and the more I tutored people, the sharper I became. I learned things at a deeper level and started to find better ways to solve certain problems. 

Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

As a motivational speaker, I get to live this every day. Every time I talk to someone whether it be on a 1:1 phone call or in front of thousands of people, I get to share a message of something I believe in and that I think will make a positive impact on the person or people I am talking to.

The message I talk about most at conferences, assemblies, or business events is achieving personal success and happiness through taking intentional action, building authentic relationships, and having fun along the journey and every time I talk about it, it inspires me to make sure I am living my life according to the messaging I speak about. 
 
Do I have all the answers? Am I the most successful person in the world? Am I the happiest person of all time? No! But, every time I do the research and then speak on it, I get to learn more. I get to answer questions from the people I speak to, and while I am inspiring them every time, I am also inspiring myself to live my truth and figure out how to be my best self.
 
So by me speaking, I am actually learning more and giving myself the opportunity to live the life that I speak about. The more I learn about success and happiness, the more I share it with others. The more I share it with others, the clearer it becomes to me. The clearer it becomes to me, the easier it is to implement in my life. The more I implement it in my life, the closer I get to achieving my biggest goals and aspirations.
 
You don’t have to be a motivational speaker for this to apply to your life. You can do it in your every day life.
 
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Practice what you preach,” but how many of us live it. When you talk with your friends, your colleagues, your families, do you say what you’re going to do? Do you take your own advice?
 
Whether it’s giving advice to a friend on marketing and then not executing that same strategy or telling a friend to ask a girl out and then not doing that, it’s important to use what you talk about as inspiration for your own life.

​Give to others and execute for yourself. Teach others and you will learn more. Motivate others and you will inspire yourself.
 
I love being a motivational speaker because I love seeing how each person processes the message differently. I love getting feedback and hearing how people define success in their lives. It motivates me to continue living the messaging I speak about and because of that I am inspired every day by the work I do and the people I have the privilege of meeting.
 
Elevate in Action:

1. Think about one of your biggest philosophies in life, something that you believe in and talk about. Now, ask yourself if you take action every day to live that truth. Do you only share with others or do you practice what you believe in? 

Jake Kelfer is a lifestyle entrepreneur and life elevator. He is the bestselling author of Elevate Beyond and Elevate Your Network and a high energy motivational speaker on a mission to elevate and inspire millions of people to achieve personal success and happiness. He is the founder of the Professional Basketball Combine which helps NBA draft prospects turn their dreams of playing pro basketball into their reality. He and his work have been featured on Forbes, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, NBC Sports, USA Today, Bleacher Report, and many other major media outlets. Connect with Jake on social @jakekelfer!