The Art of Mastery

Can we really become a master at anything we apply our mind to? We so often hear about exceptional sport stars, talented business people, knowledgeable scholars and skilful leaders. But what does it mean to be talented, knowledgeable or skilful?   And, more importantly, how does one go about becoming talented, knowledgeable, skilful or just plainly masterful at something?

Marcus Buckingham states that we make the greatest gains if we play to our strengths. Strengths for him consist of three things:

• Talent,
• Skills,
• and Knowledge

Talent we have little control over as these are the innate qualities we are born with. Talent is the pattern of thinking and feeling that comes from our inner being. Typical talents include things like empathy, stamina,  drive for success, thirst for knowledge, curiosity and dedication to a belief. These talents cannot be taught and there is precious little we can do to inject it into ourselves or others.

What about skills and knowledge? Skills are the “how-to’s of a role”. Skills can be transferred from one person to another. A person can learn how to lay bricks, do plumbing, do arithmetic, read and write.  Knowledge, in contrast, is the facts you know or the things you have experienced and have integrated into your way of doing things.  The rules of mathematics, the principles of accounting, and project management processes are all forms of knowledge. This type of knowledge is easily transferred from one person to another.  Experiential knowledge is related to the identification of patterns and connections between certain events.  It is different for each person. Where some types of knowledge might be gained by studying, experiential knowledge is gained through reflection on our past experiences.

If we know our talents, skills and knowledge, how do we then develop ourselves to achieve mastery or even greatness in a certain field? The great psychologist Erich Fromm quoted from Eugen Herrigel’s book Zen in the Art of Archery when he said that we can achieve mastery in any art if we have:

• Discipline,
• Concentration,
• and Patience

Malcolm Gladwell states in his book Outliers: The Story of Success that to a large extent the key to success in any field is a matter of practising a specific task for around 10,000 hours. This is a matter of discipline.  By training ourselves over and over in a certain task we can achieve mastery.

Discipline on its own however is not enough. We also have to apply ourselves and this is a matter of concentration.  If we give a certain task immense effort and our complete attention - we are concentrating on it. If we are fortunate our minds would move into a state of flow where we become fully immersed in that activity. We become energised by the activity and fully involved.

Lastly, we need to cultivate our patience. One of the famous psychological experiments of our time is the so-called Marshmallow Experiment thought up by Walter Mischel.  Children between the ages of four to six were led into a room where a treat of their choice (biscuit, pretzel or marshmallows) was placed on a table. The children were allowed to eat the treat, but if they waited 15 minutes without eating the treat, they would be rewarded with a second treat.  Only one third of the children could delay their gratification or have enough patience not to eat the first treat and thereby obtain a second one. Years later they tracked the children who had participated in this experiment and it was found that there is a correlation between success in later years and the ability to defer gratification as a child.

Some useful online tools:

Take the VIA Survey to determine your character strengths.

The Strengthsfinder 2.0 test for another perspective on your strengths.

The Meyers Briggs Type Indicator tool has been discredited in the last couple of years. It is still a very valueable discussion tool. Have a look: Myers Briggs Type Indicator

Read up on the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment

Some further reading