In the ancient world, the age of enlightenment and right up to our latest findings from nueroscience, the typical time it takes an apprentice to learn his or her craft to the point of mastery, is roughly ten years time. Ten years studying, learning, and applying. Ten thousand hours of domain specific practice.
Franklin, Leonardo, Darwin, and countless others history recognizes as masters, understood the process toward mastery required patience and tons of practice. Practice they had a passion for. Practice they designed. Practice they led. Practice they pushed. Practice aligned with their purpose. Practice that led to performance gains. Practice that was painful and required perseverance. Practice that led to better practice.
Yesterday, during practice 95, I held up Keisha as a model of mastery in the making. You too can become a master in the making – here’s how…
Regardless your position in your system of work and life, evaluate your current state honestly. Write out your strengths and skills. Deficits too. Next, imagine yourself as master of your domain. Dream BIG. Envision the strengths and skills required to make the leap. Commit to some kinda PA (productive action) that moves you from your current state toward your dream state. Tomorrow, wake up and do it again. More PA. More PA. More PA. Practice, practice, practice, practice. The gains will come if you are willing to commit.
Here’s the problem.
Most humans, when they evaluate where they are in their current state, overevaluate their strengths and underevaluate their deficits. The dreaded “blindspots.” And, even more problematic, most humans don’t have a big dream for their work or life. Without the passionate, purpose filled, overarching vision guiding the way, practice looks like some more dreaded drudgery. Even the most disciplined eventually lose heart when, in fact, their heart isn’t in it.
All masters begin the process by becoming a student, FIRST. Don’t wait another day to find a passion worth pursuing. Someday your mind is going to wake up and want more. Do NOT make the mistake of waiting for your “wake up call.” Keisha kicked off practice 95 by broadcasting her big dream, contrasting it to her current state, and sharing her commitment to PA,PA,PA, and more PA of her own making.
The gun show and so much more is coming soon to this marine. What, my friends, are you choosing. Are you watching the Keisha’s in your system and wishing you could muster up their discipline toward mastery or are you getting busy getting after PA of your own choosing? Either way, you’re choosing…
BUILT TO LEAD 