AI Can Teach You Anything, But It Cannot Make You Competent

About five years ago, before the explosion of AI, I was on Khan Academy learning something about a math challenge I was trying to get better at.

I love Khan Academy.

If you do not know about it, check it out. It is a great site to learn things you should have learned in junior high or high school but did not.

Back then, they were excited to say that AI would help them tailor the learning experience for each individual visitor.

A personalized training program for everyone.

Five years later, we have ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and every other large language model that has become popular.

The latest statistics say that about one billion people use AI, with over 900 million using it weekly and about 50 million paid ChatGPT users.

That means about 12 percent of the world’s population has their very own personalized tutor to help them learn almost anything.

Step by step.

In the most intelligent and efficient way.

It would be like having Grandmaster Han again, looking over my shoulder, helping me go back and learn or relearn every hapkido technique I want to get good at.

Or as I am doing now, taking what I already know about martial arts and learning how to apply it to the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

That is the gift.

But here is the catch.

Information is not skill.

Knowing what to do is not the same as being able to do it.

The Difference Between Knowing and Doing

One reason the vast majority of my articles end with Put It On the Mat is because you have to test yourself under pressure to see if you can actually do what you think you can do.

If you can overcome the fear, anxiety, and discomfort of applying what you know under duress.

AI can give you the blueprint.

It can break down every step.

It can show you the progression.

It can tell you what to practice and in what order.

It can be your personalized Khan Academy, guiding you every step along the way.

But you still have to take the steps yourself.

Nobody, especially not the AI, can do that for you.

When I think back to everything I got good at, being a capable electrician, being a second-degree hapkido black belt, being married to my beautiful wife for over 26 years now, shooting pool back in the day, if I had AI then, I would have been able to better break down the skills I needed to learn.

I would have known which ones to work on and in which order.

I would have had my own personalized guide.

But I still would have needed to take the steps myself.

To develop the myelin sheaths myself.

To put in the reps.

To do the work.

No one and no tech could have done that for me.

How to Eat an Elephant

There is an old saying.

AI makes it smarter.

AI can tell you which bite to take first.

Which muscle groups to develop before you try the advanced techniques.

Which foundational skills you need before you can build the complex ones.

AI can give you the optimal sequence.

But you still have to chew.

You still have to swallow. You still have to digest.

And you still have to do it again tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that until the elephant is gone.

Most people use AI to skip the chewing.

They ask it for the answer. They copy the output.

They pretend they understand because the AI explained it in terms they could follow.

And then they never test it.

They never apply it.

They never find out whether they actually absorbed anything or just consumed information that will evaporate the moment they close the browser.

That is the curse.

AI makes you think you are smarter.

But it does not help you deal with the emotional challenge of actually being better.

That is on you.

The Myelin Sheath Problem

There is a concept in neuroscience called myelin.

It is the insulation that wraps around nerve fibers.

The more you repeat a skill, the thicker the myelin sheath becomes.

The thicker the sheath, the faster the signal travels.

The faster the signal, the more automatic the skill.

That is what separates knowing from doing.

Myelin.

1. You can watch a video of someone executing a perfect armbar.
2. You can read a step-by-step breakdown.
3. You can have AI quiz you on the mechanics.
4. You can ace the quiz.
5. And then you can step on the mat and completely fail to execute it when someone is resisting.

Because you did not build the myelin.

You did not do the reps.

You consumed information. You did not develop skill.

Skill requires repetition under load.

Repetition under pressure.

Repetition when you are tired, frustrated, and doubting whether you will ever get it.

That is when the myelin builds.

That is when the pathway becomes automatic.

That is when you go from knowing to doing.

AI cannot give you that. AI can only show you the map.

You have to walk the terrain.

What I Would Have Done Differently

If I had AI when I was learning to be an electrician, I would have used it to break down the skills.

To ask which foundational techniques mattered most.

To identify the gaps in my knowledge before they became problems on the jobsite.

To get a second opinion when I was stuck on a problem and did not want to look stupid in front of the foreman.

But I still would have had to run the conduit.

I still would have had to pull the wire.

I still would have had to troubleshoot the circuit when it did not work.

I still would have had to show up every day and do the work and get better one mistake at a time.

If I had AI when I was earning my hapkido black belt, I would have used it to study the techniques.

To break down the techniques I struggled with.

To understand the principles underneath the movements so I could adapt them instead of just mimicking them.

To ask questions I was too embarrassed to ask in class.

But I still would have had to drill. I still would have had to spar.

I still would have had to take the falls and the hits and the corrections from Grandmaster Han.

I still would have had to show up three or four times a week for years.

If I had AI when I was learning to be a husband, I would have used it to understand my wife better.

To ask what I was missing in our conversations.

To get advice on how to navigate conflict without making it worse.

To learn the skills I never learned growing up because nobody taught me.

But I still would have had to have the hard conversations. I still would have had to apologize when I was wrong.

I still would have had to show up every day and choose her over my ego.

I still would have had to do the work of becoming someone she could trust.

AI would have made the learning smarter.

But it would not have made the doing easier.

The Gift and the Curse

The gift of AI is that you have access to a personalized tutor for almost anything you want to learn.

You can break down any skill.

You can get a roadmap.

You can see the optimal path from where you are to where you want to be.

The curse of AI is that it makes you think you are smarter than you are.

It gives you answers without requiring understanding.

It lets you consume information without developing skill.

And it lets you avoid the discomfort of testing yourself under pressure.

Most people will use AI to stay comfortable.

They will ask it to do the work for them. They will copy the output.

They will mistake consumption for capability. And they will never build anything real.

A small percentage will use AI to get smarter about the work.

To break down the elephant into bites they can actually chew.

To identify the skills they need and the order to learn them in.

To test themselves, find the gaps, and go back to AI to fill those gaps.

And then test again.

And again.

And again.

That small percentage will become dangerous.

Because they will have the best of both worlds.

The intelligence to know what to do and the discipline to actually do it.

Put It On the Mat

You might have it easier to know things now.

AI can explain almost anything.

It can break down any concept. It can give you the answer to almost any question.

But until you actually do the reps to build the myelin sheaths, knowing is not enough.

You have to be able to do it.

And you have to be able to do it under pressure.

That is the test.

That is the difference between someone who consumes information and someone who develops skill.

That is the difference between talking about it and being about it.

AI can make you smarter about what to practice.

But you still have to practice. You still have to test.

You still have to fail and get back up and do it again.

Because competence is not granted.

Competence is earned.

One rep at a time.

One day at a time.

One bite of the elephant at a time.

AI can show you how to eat the elephant.

But you still have to chew.

⚔ The Dojo Drill

Today’s training:

The Skill Stack Drill

Write down 3 skills that would dramatically improve your life.

Pick one to begin learning this month.

📚 Leader’s Library

Book I recommend this week:

​​​Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink​

Why?

Because if you don't take ownership for your life, you are giving your power away, making you weaker, more stupid and less successful.

P.S. Know a martial arts gym owner who’s stressed about money or student numbers?

Do them a favor: send them to The Leader's Dōjō, my website where I help owners get more students and keep them longer with simple systems.

One forward from you could change their gym: The Leader's Dōjō​

Chuck