When you teach your mom how to use her phone, notice how patient you have to be. That’s what learning takes.

Watching someone struggle with something obvious to you is a clean view of what learning actually costs. The repetition, the same question twice, the small panic at a wrong button: none of that means the person is slow, it means the ground is new. You needed exactly that much patience once, from someone who probably does not remember giving it.

Next time you explain something, count how many times you repeat yourself without minding. Then give yourself the same allowance when you are the beginner. Slow is the normal speed of understanding, not a sign that you are behind.