“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.”
Michelangelo
When I started out writing, I knew nothing.
Well, no…maybe not nothing.
So, just enough to get myself into trouble.
I knew how to put words on a page. And I knew how to string together those words in a way that conveyed a somewhat coherent thought. Also, I knew the basics of punctuation.
Fast-forward a decade: Somehow a handful of best selling novels have plopped out of me.
If you ignore the mountain of wasted paper and ink-drained pen carcasses left in my wake, it might look an awful lot like I got lucky.
Make no mistake, I did get lucky. But then again, luck is when preparationmeets opportunity, so maybe it wasn’t quite so serendipitous after-all.
The question I get most often is:
How did you do it?
And really, the answer to that question doesn’t just apply to the act of writing.
The steps I followed to get me to this point in my career are the same steps I’ve followed countless times over to maser a wide-variety of skills.
Maybe they’ll help you do the same.
So enough about me. Let’s talk about you and The 4 Steps to Mastery.
Desire to Learn
“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.”
Brian Tracy
More and more our society is moving towards a knowledge-based economy. Manufacturing based jobs are on their way out. It used to be that factories bounced around the globe looking for the cheapest labor, but even those days are gone.
The machines are coming, my friend. It’s important that when they arrive, you don’t find yourself in a replaceable industry.
And this is part of the reason knowledge-work is so popular these days. Machines can’t “out-think” you. Yet.
The only way to really stay ahead of them is by constantly honing your mind’s blade.
You must make consuming knowledge a daily priority.
Push your cognitive limits beyond their comfort zone.
If you have a specific skill or field you wish to master, then it follows you must be prepared to consume anything and everything on that particular topic.
Here’s a secret:
True mastery is fiction.
The people we look up to as being masters, will be the first people to point out just how much they still have to learn on a topic.
Think about that. Masters are people who’ve dedicated their life to a subject and even they acknowledge how much more they stand to learn.
You must adopt a similar mindset.
That’s why the first step in mastering anything is by adopting a desire to learn. Only by maintaining a student’s curiosity can you ever hope to achieve mastery.
Persistent Consistency
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Calvin Coolidge
Listen, I wrote an entire article on this one bullet-point alone, so I’ll give the slimmed down, paraphrased version here, but if you want to dive deeper, check out that article Want To Be The Best? Do This.
First things first, let’s play the definition game.
Persistence: “The continuation of an effect after the cause is removed.”
Consistency: “Steadfast adherence to the same principles, cause, form…”
To distill that down to one sentence:
“Once the goal (read: cause) is removed, the habit (read: effect) disappears.
Okay, so let’s say you want to write a book. Good for you! But hey, if you didn’t know, it’s kind of a daunting task.
300 blank pages staring at you is nothing less than anxiety inducing for the best of them, and downright “tinkling your pants with doubt” inducing for the rest of us.
So if you want to maximize your chances of success, you’ll do what pretty much every other writer in existence does: They break the book down to its most basic part (the word) and set a goal around that.
For instance, by setting the goal to write 1,000 words every day, you will have a 90,000 word novel in 3 months. This goal requires consistency in that you must show up every dead with steadfast adherence to hit that word total.
And if you do…Huzzah! Break out the champagne and confetti, you’re officially an author!
Now, the difference between mastering something (versus just being an amateur) lies in your ability to remain persistent.
That is, you continue with the goal of writing 1,000 words every day, even after the successful completion of your novel. If you do this, guess what? After 1 year, you will have written not one, not two, not three… but FOUR novels!
Compare that with the amateur who called it quits after hitting their first goal.
That, my friends, is why being Persistently Consistent is the second step towards mastery.
Follow the Path Most Trodden
That’s right… forget Frost. It’s tough going out there. No need to make things harder on yourelf.
This step is all about modeling the behaviors, plans, and actions of those individuals who’ve already accomplished the sort of success/mastery you yourself are now looking to achieve.
Want to master personal finance and investing? Model Warren Buffet (or somebody similar).
Want to master entrepreneurship and expert sales tactics? Model Elon Musk (or somebody similar).
Want to master…whatever? Model somebody who’s already mastered it.
Seriously, this is, by far, the easiest of the 4 steps.
If executed correctly, you can effectively rest on your laurels, following an already proven path to success.
The real trick here lies in finding a person or system worth modeling, because remember, there are countless paths to the mountain-top. The path you choose might not be the one I choose.
And that’s okay.
There is no wrong way to the top of the mountain, so long as you never stop moving forward. But just imagine how much easier that hike up the hill is when you can follow in the footsteps of a person who’s come before.
Don’t reinvent the wheel.
Find a proven path and follow it. Trust me, there is no quicker way to reach the mastery peak.
Focus Only On Things Within Your Control
Masters are experts at understanding precisely what they can control, and ignoring everything else.
Why?
Because if you can’t control it, then what can be accomplished by focusing on it?
Attention is your most powerful resource.
Where you focus it will directly impact the quality of mastery you attain in any given activity.
Only direct your attention at things within your control.
This is what we call a Proactive Mindset. A Proactive Mindset operates from a position of complete control.
If the previous step was the easiest, this one is by far the most difficult.
Adopting a proactive mindset means taking total responsibility. It means claiming ownership of your actions, reactions, thoughts, and circumstances.
This is not a one time commitment. And it’s not something you magically turn on and off.
It’s a skill that will be tested countless times throughout the day. Which can be terrifying (if you’re afraid of failing) or empowering (if you accept that ultimate mastery of any skill requires failing your way to success).
The Master’s Mindset is a Sphere of Influence I’ve written extensively on elsewhere. It is the foundation upon which the Five Spheres of Influence are built and it is an absolute requirement if you hope to master any skill or aspect of your life.
Check out my article The 8th Deadly Sin for more information on this topic.
Let’s Wrap It Up
In truth, there is no top of the mountain. There is no peak upon which you will someday find yourself thinking: I have mastered this thing.
If you do, well…chances are you’re quite a bit further from mastery than you really think.
Mastery is a journey, not a destination. It’s a system of continuous learning, persistent consistency, modeling, and mindset.
So what’re you waiting for? Apply the 4 steps outlined above and get your trip up that fictitious mountain started!
But wait, wait, wait…before you do…get down to the comments and let me know what you’ve got planned. What area of your life, what skill, what field do you want to master? Share your journey.
I can’t wait to hear all about it!
