What makes some of the best programmers, sports professionals what they are today isn’t really what we like to think. There seems to be a general perception that masters of any art have some sort of magic going on for them, some mystery that we may never come to fully understand.

But is that true? Can we honestly say that only a minute number of humans are excellent at what they do because, in the beginning of time, some seed of perfection was sown on their behalf to distinguish them from the lot? Can we?

Yes, there’s the area of IQ’s, photographic memories and hereditary traits, but that’s not what makes one excellent, it could be a much needed foundation watering the ground for the journey ahead, but that’s how far it goes, so long as mastery and perfection of any art are concerned.

If we are born with a relatively high IQ, it’s assumed that we’d think quicker and solve puzzles in shorter time than others who aren’t as endowed. However, when it comes to mastering an art , I’d like to think it’s more about intense focus and repeated practice than it is about intellectual endowment.

Even though, hereditary intellectual abilities enhance quicker learning and practice, it has to be said that we cannot be excellent without continuous practice and learning. Mastery really is about getting used to as many methods that work and this is not something that automatically happens at birth or at night when we sleep, it takes time, plenty of invested time.

HOW PRACTICING WORKS
If you are a fan of movies or sports, take a very close look at some of your favorite icons, read about them if possible. What you’d find might not be new, but it’s going to help unravel something very interesting. These Pro’s and Oscar winning actors didn’t get to the top just because they went into their various industries and somehow got a lucky break that shot them to fame.

Truthfully, a vast majority of them started out as crap, and were mostly seen as ‘without potential’, never really having the requirements to go all the way. But somehow, they became the best, by magic? NOPE! Practice? Belief?  Determination? Focus? Falling seven and getting up eight? Now we’re talking.

Maybe it’s hard to accept, but isn’t it true that a master has failed more times than his student? Why? Because through practice, through mistakes and hundreds of errors, they have found what works, and perhaps all the methods that don’t. It’s the accumulation of years of experience through intense learning, that separates the professional from the ordinary, Not magic, Not luck.

THE MASTER STARTED OUT AS AN APPRENTICE

Once an individual in some field finally gets to his prime, it’s easy to forget he wasn’t born there. The truth of the matter is, whatever he knows today, that skill, that unique approach, weren’t there on day one and they didn’t just drop from the sky either.

So what happened? the master took the stairs, just like other masters who have lived and maybe they had to climb mountains too, swim across lakes, or cross deserts, just to learn more, just to widen their perspective on the art.

If we are ever in doubt that we cannot become excellent at anything, it really helps to remind ourselves that no one was born a master, not even our idols or mentors. However, it’s necessary to note that the same process of long suffering, multiple hurdles and zigzagged paths that they took, is what we eventually get to take if we want to become very good at what we do.

THE MASTER NEVER STOPS LEARNING

It would seem that a master attains such unprecedented heights because he reached a certain degree of excellence as regards knowing what methods are best applicable and using them in the most efficient ways possible. But then, the more we know, the more we know we don’t know, and I feel this is what keeps the master on top of his game. He understands the importance of continuous learning and that’s no secret at all.

To become the best or anything close to the best, we have to remind ourselves that we can never know enough. The day we think we have learned enough, that we have attained such high levels of perfection that we have no use for further learning, that day marks the beginning of our fall from the top.

The master may retire, but he remains a force to be reckoned with because his hunger, passion, obsession with learning and self-improvement never go to sleep.

WHERE OTHERS GIVE UP, THE MASTER FORGES ON.

This is perhaps the ultimate factor, WILL. It’s not that professionals found the hurdles easier to cross, nope! It was as difficult for them as it would have been for the others who quit. But somehow they kept going, and they probably would have failed at their first and second attempts but their resolve to not quit is what brought them as far as they have come.

There’s this belief most professionals hold, “Either we find a way, or we will make one, but there’s no room for quitting” and this is just priceless because with that mindset, how can they not reach the top? You see the day we decide we want to be the best at anything, that’s when we begin to see all the hurdles and obstacles that we never imagined and that’s a test of will really.

It’s like a number of layers that we have to get through, each one more puzzling and complex than the last, but if we can get through the first, we can get through all, but not without failing and trying again, not without intense learning and practice, not without determination and strong will.

SELF MASTERY FIRST.

In a nutshell, to become the best at anything, discipline is key, perhaps the most required of all necessities. We can be motivated and ready to embark on a journey but without discipline its only a matter of time before we get out of the bus and decide to return home, not because we don’t know how important the journey is, but because we can’t keep ourselves from mental distractions and unnecessary activities that don’t count in the end.

And it’s mostly about time management and the kind of daily schedule we keep. Do we set out time for practice and learning every day? And do we stick to it? We might miss a few days as a result of uncertainties and we eventually get to make up for lost time because we know what’s at stake.

But once we begin skipping practice time, once we start procrastinating every day, for TV, for game time, for party time, then that’s the end of the beginning,absolutely no question about that.

There’s no way, we can reach the top if we can’t be decently committed to keeping personal schedules and holding ourselves accountable.

So Self-mastery is probably the first hurdle we have to cross, if we can successfully discipline ourselves when no one’s watching, it’s going to be an added advantage for us when other hurdles begin to show up and the bench mark changes all of a sudden.

MASTERY IS NOT A DESTINATION, IT’S A JOURNEY.

After all said and done, when we eventually become so good we can be looked up to as masters that can be learned from, it helps, it really does help, to not rest on our laurels, to not sit back and expect every other trick or skill that we haven’t familiarised ourselves with to jump at us from the moon whilst we enjoy dessert in the comfort of our living rooms.

Like we said earlier, the more we know, the more we know we don’t know and it’s either we are moving up the mountains, searching for more, seeking more answers, or we are falling from such great heights we have attained by thinking we’ve learned it all.

Mastery is a journey unto itself, without a final destination, the further we push ourselves, the more we see, the better we become.

http://psychemechanics.com/2017/01/25/what-makes-a-master/