Originally Posted by JohnBurke

Don't settle for being a good CFI. Anyone can do that.

There are instructors, and there are teachers. Instructors administer a syllabus. Teachers do far, far more. Teachers are students of students; the teacher seeks to find the needs of the individual student and meet them, to explain on an elementary level and tailor it to the particular student, to open doors, and windows and the world. An instructor goes through the motions, whereas a teacher guides a student. Instructors are a dime a dozen; teachers are priceless. Don't settle for being a good instructor. Make it a life-long mission to teach. You'll use that skill at every level of your career, and it's not something you simply pass through on a checkride. If you start now and stay with it, you'll still be learning it when you retire, just as it should be.

A good teacher understands the needs of the student because the good teacher is a student.