Mastery: “Comprehensive knowledge and skill in a specific subject or activity“
I have an insecurity to confess… After 4 decades on this rock, I’ve never really felt as though I’ve truly mastered… well anything, really. As someone who’s worked with highly accomplished professionals and those distinguished in their field, it’s a thought that’s eroded my confidence at times. You’d think that having earned a “Masters” degree, by virtue of that qualification’s title alone, would have silenced that inner voice. Nope! Nearly a decade on, I’m still somewhat troubled by the thought. In reality, I do have domain expertise in both technical and business fields. I’m also going to claim, simply by getting 2 adolescent kids through the last few shitty years, some degree of parenting competency. But none of this overrides the self-limiting “Not an expert” belief.
In his book ‘Outliers’, Malcolm Gladwell postulated that 10,000 hours of intensive practice is required to achieve mastery. Gladwell was paraphrasing from a 1993 study that looked at complex skills – like learning to play a piano or violin, and he seemingly ran a mile with this philosophy. Although ‘10,000 hours of practice to become an expert’ was applied somewhat liberally in the book, Gladwell caveats the magic number, saying that ‘luck’ and ‘opportunity’ are also essential factors. In any case, the notion of needing to apply 10k hours of intense practice, over no less than 10 years, has been challenged ever since the book’s release in 2008. The critiques list oversight of ‘natural talent’ as one key reason why the model is flawed. Personally, I think that modern technology, and its ability to augment human performance, is another. For example, learning a new language today can be done in a little over 11 hours through a platform like Audible. I’m only 7 hours into a course in speaking Spanish and can already comfortably string together a range of useful sentences relating to: naming and introducing people; asking about someone’s day; ordering coffee (un café con leche, por favor); booking a hotel room with bathroom for any number of days (correction, up to veinte [20] days); querying how much something costs; asking to go or to be taken somewhere; reserving a table for dinner; ordering a beer; ordering a bottle of white or/and red wine; saying I’m drunk; asking whether I’m drunk (same words, rising intonation), or stating that I am – by nature – a drunk! This vocabulary could well be all that’s needed to get by in Barcelona for a week, though obviously many more hours of practice are needed to be able to hold deep conversation with native speakers. But the point is this: with consistency of effort and the use of rapidly evolving technology, I think people will more readily master complex new skills at a fraction of the 10,000 hour commitment claimed by Gladwell. But even if technological advancements can speed up skill development and in my example, allow me to speak Spanish fluently, is ‘mastery‘ of the language a necessary or even realistic end goal?
I’m trying to get comfortable with the idea of being a ‘Jack’ of most things, ‘Ace’ of very few. It’s taking some serious f*cking willpower to resist the perfectionist in me! To help make the adjustment, I’ll list some ways in which adopting a ‘Jack of all trades’ mindset might help me to come up trumps:
- Offers the chance to display my adaptability, flexibility and resourcefulness in situations, particularly those that are dynamic, complex or evolving;
- Overcome tendencies for perfectionism;
- Find solutions to problems that single-domain experts may not have the breadth of skills or knowledge to solve;
- Ability to wear the ‘multiple hats’ required when undertaking a new entrepreneurial venture;
- Drawing on breadth of experience can assist with creative endeavours;
- Help to understand different perspectives and communicate more effectively with people from different backgrounds and disciplines; and (my favourite)
- Propagate a growth mindset – one open to continual improvement, lifelong learning and exploring novel ideas.
So my advice to anyone who has made it this far down the post is this: learn that language – even if only to speak it poorly. Practice that instrument – if just to connect with others through music; Take that course – even if it won’t change your prefix. Do what little it takes to become a better spouse, cook, carer, chess player, musician, green thumb, surfer, teacher, business owner, parent or weekend DIY-er. You will thank yourself for it!