Albert Einstein was known as one of the brilliant thinkers of all time — and we love him for that. But what about the person who influenced him? His teacher Konstantinos Karatheodoris.

Legendary musician Jimi Hendrix learned from Johnny Jones.

Phenomenal writer Lewis Carroll learned from George MacDonald.

And the great Pablo Picasso had Edvard Munch, Henri Toulouse de Lautrec, Paul Cézanne, Henri Rousseau, and Georges Braque as his influences.

You know what I mean? These brilliant people had mentors.

They learned from people they admire.

Even more fascinating is that they did it without Internet. Zero emails. Zero social media. Zero online courses.

And yet, here we are complaining we lack resources; we lack reliable mentors; we lack money; we lack time. Here we are wasting so much time browsing the internet for trivial matters rather than using it for learning — learning from people whose works we admire.

It’s the 21st century (in case you’ve forgotten).

We can now easily Google the names of the people we admire and check their websites or read their blogs or listen to their podcasts; or study their artworks or theories or inventions; or read the books they wrote and learn their unique worldviews and habits.

We can easily email them or connect via social media if we want to ask advice or applaud them for their great work. We can easily download their works and share it to others.

We have this incredible privilege, but we’re sabotaging it. We’re not utilizing this opportunity to learn more and become masters of our crafts.

If Albert Einstein is still alive, for sure, he would trade places with us.