Mastering Skills That Stick: The Power of See One, Do One, Teach One

Can you recall the lessons from the first book you read in 2023 (or any?), or the YouTube tutorial you watched two months ago? If you are like me, unless you are putting your learning immediately into practice, in two months time it will be like I had never heard the concept – unless I have also taken the time to consolidate the learning by teaching someone else. The “See One, Do One, Teach One” method is used in medial training, but it is just as useful (and frankly a lot safer) in most other domains.

🔍 See One: Learn by Observing

The first step is exposure. You observe how something is done, by reading, listening, or watching someone who has done it before.

For example:

• Reading a technical manual
• Studying one or two working examples
• Shadowing a mentor as they debug an issue

At this stage, your goal isn’t mastery—it’s introduction. You’re becoming aware of new patterns and seeing how things fit together.

🛠 Do One: Learn by Doing

Next, you put your knowledge into practice. This could mean:

• Writing the code from the tutorial on your own
• Fixing a bug in your own project using what you just learned
• Implementing a new procedure using the model you observed

This step solidifies your understanding. You’ll likely encounter roadblocks, which is where the real learning happens. Adapting, responding, and debugging deepen comprehension.

🎤 Teach One: Learn by Sharing

The final step—and the most powerful—is teaching. This is where the learning truly sticks.

Ways to teach:

• Mentorship: Help a colleague or less experienced developer solve a similar problem
• Writing: Write a blog post or documentation about what you learned
• Speaking: Present at a meetup, conference, or even in your team’s next meeting

Explaining a concept forces you to clarify your own understanding. Teaching exposes gaps in your knowledge and strengthens what you already know.

Why This Works

• Active Engagement – Instead of passively consuming information, you immediately apply and reinforce it.
• Deeper Retention – Teaching requires organizing your thoughts, which makes concepts easier to recall.
• Real-World Application – You learn not just how something works in theory but how to troubleshoot and adapt it in practice.
• Community Building – By sharing knowledge, you grow your network and establish yourself as a valuable contributor.

Ready to Try It?

The next time you learn something new, don’t stop at seeing it—put it into action and then teach it to someone else. Whether through mentorship, blogging, or public speaking, you’ll find that what you once struggled to grasp becomes second nature.