What every baby knows, but you forgot
Jul 17th, 2008 by admin
Written more than 15 years ago, George Leonard’s classic book, Mastery – The Keys to Success and Long Term Fulfillment, remains one of my favorites. I was reminded of the book as I watched my grand daughter Talia this morning.
What a beautiful miracle she is. Every day she learns something new, adding it her repertoire of skills learned just days before. She never quits. If not successful today, she’ll be back tomorrow to try again. There is only to joyfully do and do again, over and over. Never discouraged or disheartened, failure is an unknown concept to her.
Watching her this morning, struggling so valiantly to move her little body in the direction of her attention reminded me of Leonard’s introduction to Mastery, in which he asks us to touch our foreheads. Simple, right? But there was a time when as a baby merely controlling the movements of your hands required a tremendous combination of mental and physical gymnastics.
It is only through continuous effort and improvement that a baby learns to master the basic physical, mental and linguistic skills necessary for survival. It is no different for adults.
Leonard was among the first to explain that true mastery can only be developed over time through a series of steps in which new skills are learned, practiced and mastered before advancing to a higher level of competency. If graphically represented, it would look like a succession of continually rising plateaus that reach greater and greater heights over time.
What happens to most of us is that we stop learning, practicing and growing after a step or two. We get better, but then take it easy and start to backslide. Getting in shape or dieting is an example everyone has experienced.
So instead of a series of plateaus that continue rising to greater heights, our levels of mastery if graphed look more like a series of peaks and valleys. The peaks seldom get higher than a previous high point because one stops practicing or training. I’ve lost count of how many different things I’ve started only to drop it and move on to something else. Leonard calls that “dabbling.”
The truth of the matter is that I enjoy dabbling. I’ve dabbled in everything from 100-mile bike racing, rock climbing, fire walking, and martial arts to ski mountaineering, auto racing, sailing, tennis and golf, and mastered none. That’s ok with me, because mastery was not my intent. Testing my self, exploring my limits, and having fun was my intent.
The problem is that “dabbling” can affect the most important things in our lives – work, relationships, wellness and spiritual connectedness. These are the things that I am committed to mastering. As I’ve learned the hard way, mastery can only be attained when one has the will and discipline to never quit – just like Talia.
Today, it is understood that mastery or becoming a true expert in any field requires at least 3 hours a day for ten years (or about 10,000 hours) of disciplined learning, practice and improvement. I’m doing that with coaching - eight years of continuously learning, practicing and applying what I’ve learned; yet, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface. It is a journey I love and hope never ends until the day comes that they throw dirt in my face.
