Mastery: Simple, not easy

Sports, art, craft, doctors, military ... we expect nothing less than mastery. We become arm chair analysts critiquing a poor performance of a master in sports, art, craft, military. In miltary if you walk in to a situation without mastery you will die, sports persons will lose the match, artists will flop, patients will die. Yet we have millions of excuses if someone expects mastery from us. We are not talented, we did not have x,z or z growing up. Who the hell could possibly expect mastery from someone as ordinary as me. What if we could flip it around and bring in elements of mastery in our life. Would life not be more fun?

The nuts and bolts of mastery - The start

• Learn from the best, the very best
• Success leaves clues
• Find virtual mentors (mentors not a single mentor) in your craft
• Start with a virtual mentor and then see if you can find a real mentor
• Real mentor need not be a master, someone who is better than you currently is sufficient 
• Keep finding better real mentors as you start becoming better
• If you cannot find a real mentor, you can still rely on a virtual mentor  
• Don't hero worship your mentors
• Don't copy them
• Based on what is know about them publicly, figure out what they did to be masters
• Inoculate the learning about your mentors in your craft

The long and never ending middle

• Mastery is all about repetition
• Practicing and not giving up 
• Learning & Relearning
• Its a lonely journey
• Focus ... lots of it 
• Grit and perseverance when you are knocked out  
• Looking at where you suck and practicing improvement

You win some and  automatically raise the bar. An infinite loop - it never ends

So when do you achieve mastery

• Never - its an infinite loop
• You don't become a master because you think so
• You are on a path to mastery if you keep persevering even though no one notices you
• You are on a path to mastery if you are recognized for your mastery

What to do to?

• Build a crude roadmap to mastery
• Remember - Its simple, not easy
• Start - even if you are nowhere close to anything
• Believe in yourself - build your confidence as you move forward
• Work towards small initial successes
• Build a positive momentum which will help you move forward

All this not rocket science. Understanding this or coming up a different and better approach is not  rocket science. Getting yourself to consistently do it over the long term is where the magic happens.