Mastery is a concept that has been present since the beginning of time. Our ancestors mastered the art of hunting early and this involved time and effort to only to get better at hunting but also knowing and anticipating the next move by the prey so as to be successful in the hunt. One thing is for sure. Time is a great element in the mastery of anything. It took time for tools to be developed to make work easier. We move to higher levels of intelligence when we take our time to get better at something.
When we feel we need to skip the steps, save time through taking the easier and less time-consuming route, we get trapped and become slaves to time. It becomes easier for us to be swayed by the opinions of others. We end up in unhealthy cycles where time (especially time where we are in silence) feels like a punishment and we would rather stay distracted and most of the distractions are sadly counterproductive. It has never worked like that and we would be fools to think that the advancement of technology will cut out time from the equation of mastery. If this is the line of thought we adopt, then it will be easy for us not to feel in control.
Society already rids us of control which naturally makes us feel overwhelmed and incapable and if we let the opinions of others make us feel incapable then it makes sense why we would rather not try anything because we feel we are not responsible for our fate. Take a look at the career path you are on and the work you do, was it a personal decision that you were inclined to or were there external influences (family, peers, and society) that motivated your choice?
We live in a fast-paced world where there is readily available information for us to consume on just about everything. We believe that technology will solve everything for us. The dependency on it is so much that we gloss over everything and try to be masters of all while missing out on the art of taking time on one specific craft and getting really good at it. We end up having a lot of surface information on everything and not enough on a specific area. We want to learn fast and we want it to always be fun. We want coloured demonstrations.
We are not good at being bored. It makes us feel that we are not doing enough, that we would rather indulge in distractions to fill in that time where not much is happening and all the learning happening is slow and tedious.
I feel that those who we view as successful and respected in their respective fields had to take time out and be okay with boredom for them to perfect their skill. We would rather term it as luck, good genes and whatever excuse you have used before that made you feel that investing in your time would be a waste.
In the book 'Mastery' by Robert Greene, he mentions a few things that are needed for mastery of any craft:
1. Passion
It involves intense connection, love and desire. We feel that it necessary for us to do these things and that they give us purpose by offering help and solutions to problems. Passion allows them to withstand the pain of the process—the setbacks, self-doubts and the tedious hours of practice and study.
2. Discovering how to apply it
Most people who discover what they want to be masters to discover how the craft they are so passionate about could give them purpose. They become deeply connected to that field of study. The book further guides on how we should act getting into this new space where we are making a shift from theory to practice. It stresses on the importance of staying open-minded, being observant, letting go of ego, being curious and being comfortable failing and facing resistance.
3. Action
This is the training bit. While having a master in the same field is important, we can take it upon ourselves to learn skills and get better by using books from masters in various fields and inspiration from various outlets available to us thanks to the Internet. Mastery also involves social intelligence which means being aware of how your interactions affect your drive to learn.
This is not to say that we should ditch our careers and work at something else. If anything, what is needed is the change of thinking from viewing your career as a straight path to one with many turns that may lead you to an area you enjoy working. Through action and exploring, you will find something that draws you in. It brings a great level of excitement to you and you feel that curiosity you had as a child set in. Learning about this specific field will feel fulfilling and you will grow it to a point where you can do it on your own as you are now a master of it.
In that way, you move past separating work from your life because both the time spent at work and that spent outside work bring you both pleasure and fulfilment.
Another option offered in this book is that you could acquire skills that would add a creative touch to your career. To learn a skill that is outside your career that once added makes it easier for you to stand out. I feel that this is the better option of the two because in a career as old as medicine and Law most of the various branches are occupied and finding your niche could be hard.
Secondly, skills are of a wide variety and you could learn during your extra time thanks to technology.
Finding what we are drawn to is not guaranteed to be a magical feeling but what is for sure is that your energy will communicate to you that this is something you would enjoy doing. It might be triggered by watching someone do something, being connected to your younger self, an object or even an activity you take part in. Whatever it is, make sure you do not let it go and find a way to master it.
Time
Give yourself time. Time to discover what you want to do, time to grow into it and time to learn and work on it.
I Will end this post by sharing a quote from one of my favourite books which I usually refer to as a survival manual, ‘The 50th Law’ by 50 Cent and Robert Greene that reads “Most people can’t handle boredom. That means they can’t stay on one thing until they get good at it and they wonder why they are unhappy”.
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