When You Know What It Takes And You Are Prepared to Do It
I discuss the idea of Mastery a fair bit, I obsess over the idea that we can become obsessed with an idea. I’m obsessed with the idea that a craft or skill can lead you into places never been before, to open up a whole new space and have you playing at the Vanguard. Being obsessed with Mastery requires us to change our behaviors and take on the role of forever students.
A goal of Mastery cannot be achieved by applying the same behaviors as we’ve applied before.
I liken Mastery to an infinite piece of rope, each morning I’m given the opportunity to see how far down the rope I can get.
The reward is I can then pass on the learnings to others and just as importantly, I can play within my craft with freedom only those who become great or masterful will ever understand.
My dedication becomes my leverage, the willingness to go to places, and work through things where others, perhaps most, tend to give up. When discovering new ideas, I tend to dig deep and work on them until the idea becomes tangible enough for me to teach. This is when ‘ideas’ or discoveries become leverage. It’s this leverage that separates my work from the thousands of others who occupy this space. It’s what creates a unique perspective and keeps us aligned to our truth
Mastery requires that we appreciate the Question as much as the Answer and the Problems are welcomed because they eventually bring Solutions. Each Problem and Question taking us deeper into an infinite field of possibility, a source of enjoyment that just keeps on giving, surprising, and taking us closer to our soul’s purpose.
The better we become at something the more freedom we have to play within it. I mean, try telling me that riding our bikes was not more fun once we discovered wheelies and how to do jumps over our siblings who had been convinced to trust as and lie down at the end of a makeshift ramp?
Mastery must be earned in a never-ending pursuit to create our own path within a craft and to do that, there must be such a deep willingness to go places most others are not.
And that seems fair right?
Who on earth would want Mastery to be easy?
Mastery requires us to be better than we could ever have imagined, to repeat things over and over, and then 1 more time than anyone else.
I remember reading once that you must be prepared to suffer for your Art and wondered, why would you do that? Now that makes sense. You must be willing to go to dark places and trust there will be light, to pick yourself up over and over again and embrace failure.
When I mentor Presenters I have a ‘5 Minute Rule’.
5 minutes is the minimum practice you need to do each day, and by doing it, the 5 mins often lead to 10, 15, or 60.
Above the 5 mins, we go from Improvement to Good and Great and eventually, over years, to Mastery. Below the 5 mins, we achieve little to no improvement and discover a conflict between Goals Vs Behaviours.
My rule of thumb is, under the 5 mins practice per day shows me there is a conflict of Goals Vs Behaviours and instead of a Presenting Mentor it’s more likely a Mindset Coach is required as I’m not here to motivate. If your dream is to Stand on stage in front of thousands and positively change lives…then that requires a self-motivated person. Nobody is able to want your success more than you!
Mastery brings the greatest reward and only over time will one ever truly appreciate that.
Andrew
