The Hidden Advantage of the Ultra-Successful (And How You Can Use It Too)

Why is it that the way your father taught you to shake a man’s hand, or the advice your mother gave you in a moment of crisis, is burned into your memory—while most of what you learned in school faded the moment the test was over?

Because deep learning—the kind that actually changes us—doesn’t happen through memorization. It happens through immersion, experience, and proximity to someone who’s already where we want to be.

For most of human history, this is how people became extraordinary. Before universities, before textbooks, before online courses, people grew through mentorship, discipleship, and apprenticeship.

Somewhere along the way, we lost this.

Picasso painted First Communion at age 7.

Mozart wrote his first symphony at 8.

Michelangelo sculpted Madonna of the Stairs at 15.

Jacob Collier was arranging complex harmonies before he turned 10.

They didn’t just study their craft—they learned at the feet of masters.

• George Washington became a skilled surveyor under the mentorship of Thomas, Lord Fairfax.

• Benjamin Franklin learned the printing trade as an apprentice to his brother James.

• Paul Revere mastered silversmithing through years of hands-on training in his father’s shop.

They weren’t handed degrees. They lived their education—learning by doing, refining through feedback, and only then stepping into mastery.

And this isn’t just history—it’s backed by research. The 70-20-10 rule says that ideal adult learning comes from:

• 70% hands-on experience

• 20% mentorship and coaching

• Only 10% formal instruction

But something changed.

The Industrial Revolution reshaped learning, turning it into a factory-model system that prioritized efficiency over transformation. It allowed knowledge to scale, creating progress and wealth—but at the cost of depth and mastery.

Instead of deep apprenticeship, most people now move through standardized education—absorbing information but never reaching the kind of deep learning that forges real expertise.Adolescence stretched into the mid-20s. The process became more structured, but also more detached from becoming great.

So now, despite having more access to information than ever before, most people are stuck in a paradox:

They know more but become less.

They have skills but lack mastery.

They chase knowledge but never reach wisdom.

Yet in some places, this ancient way of learning never fully disappeared.

Switzerland, for example, still relies heavily on an apprenticeship-based system for many of its most prestigious professions—including banking. The world-renowned Swiss banking system doesn’t just hire college graduates; it trains young professionals through structured apprenticeships, where they learn the craft of finance by working directly under seasoned experts. Institutions like UBS and the Swiss National Bank offer programs that combine hands-on experience with guided learning—producing some of the most skilled financial minds in the world.

This isn’t a relic of the past. It’s proof that the path to true mastery has never changed.

The question is: Are we willing to return to it?

My Journey With Mentorship

I didn’t just learn about mentorship—I lived the difference it makes.

My dad didn’t outsource my education to schools alone. He was present. We traveled together. He had me help him fix cars, taught me how to free dive and spearfish, even how to fight. My childhood in Mozambique was filled with long trips to exotic places, but more importantly, it was shaped by learning by doing—side by side with someone who had already mastered what I was learning.

Then, after my parents’ divorce, that presence was gone. And something shifted. A gap opened in my life, one I didn’t know how to fill.

Until I met a Canadian missionary who became my spiritual father. That relationship changed everything.

When I chose to become his disciple—not just a student, but an apprentice—my growth exploded. What could have taken me a decade, I learned in a year or two. Some lessons I might never have learned if I hadn’t fully immersed myself in that mentorship.

That experience shaped everything I believe about growth.

Coaching, mentorship, and apprenticeship aren’t luxuries. They aren’t hacks. They are the difference between years of struggle and accelerated mastery. They redirect the trajectory of a life.

It’s why I developed the Xponential Framework—to create the kind of structured deep learning that has always been the true path to mastery.

The Shift That Unlocks Deep Learning

Realizing this truth is just the first step. The real transformation happens when you stop approaching growth like a student and start approaching it like an apprentice.

This shift changes everything. It’s the difference between collecting information and becomingsomeone new. Between dabbling in knowledge and immersing yourself in mastery.

So how do you make that shift? How do you take full advantage of this path?