What is your outcome

As a young ex-student I was ready to take the next logical step: Do a Master's degree.

"What is your outcome?" asked a professor of mine. The first time this question has been asked of me.

To learn, I said. He laid it out for me:

The last time a lecturer is willing to teach you anything is at Honours level. A Master's is about proving you are worth talking to, and a PhD is about proving that you are worth listening to.

That question with that framing shifted my life for the better.