Last week we discussed Autonomy . This week it is Mastery. That’s the second trait you need to fully succeed. I’ll keep you guessing what the third and final trait you need until next week. So what is Mastery? Again, let’s go to Websters: Mastery is “expert skill or knowledge”.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell us which skill or knowledge we have to Master. So what could that be? Let’s look at some areas that I can think of that would be helpful to have mastered:
- Creating life/work balance.
- Creating a fulfilling personal partnership
- Having a meaningful career
- Having a healthy body
- Raising healthy and happy children
- Giving back to your community.
And many more…….Add your own……
Of course, the next question is how do you obtain the expert skill or knowledge to “master” these goals?
If you have read my book and or followed my blog, you will guess that the first step is to pick one area goal that you would like to achieve or at least work on improving. I know some of you will even question at this stage if you know whether or not you have already mastered one or more of these areas. If you can not say you are 100% happy with that area, then work needs to be done.
So, go ahead, pick one of these or create one of your own. Then ask yourself : “How can I gain more skill or knowledge about the elements that make mastery of this area more successful”. WRITE DOWN YOUR ANSWER.
Your answer may be to:
- Take a class
- Read about what others think mastery of that area entails.
- Talk to people who have mastered that area
- Break the area down into smaller parts that can be worked on
Visualize the area as though it is “Mastered” and see what that looks like for you.
This stuff is difficult, so do just a little work on it each day or week. No rush, the problem or challenge will still be there next week, month, year.
Good luck with this. Next week we will look a the last trait and then do a round up of all of them to see how they fit into a successful life. Even if we don’t fully succeed, think of how much better each of us would be to get closer……