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How do I become a … ?

Good speaker?
Writer?
Dancer?
Singer?
Runner?

How do I become one? How does the whole thing come together? How will I know if it really is my thing? Will it be worth it?

There is only one way to find out. There has really only ever been one way.

The way to mastery in the past, the way to mastery in future… And the way to mastery today:

Start.

Take a single step.

Do it now while you are rubbish.

Don’t wait to feel “ready”. Don’t expect that you will ever feel that you have finally reached excellence. The moment you achieve something, it immediately becomes something that you can achieve – and no longer special.

Einstein didn’t feel like “Einstein” while he worked and thought – he felt like you, like me- not quite “there” yet, slightly unsure… But willing to keep moving anyway.

I wonder often why our minds are so rigged up to stop us beginning important work. Is it an evolutionary beneficial tendency? Perhaps it is the “cowards” that survive. The coward gene has been evolving for many, many, many generations.

Mere survival for a lifetime might be what your genes want, but it is not what your spirit wants.

This then is the daily war between the spirit that wants to change the world, and the genes that want you to hide beneath the duvet covers.

Who will win?

5 responses to “How do I become a … ?”

  1. Eduardo - Edi - Navas Avatar
    Eduardo – Edi – Navas

    Very nice article,

    Really true, the only way to achive your goals is taking action
    Very often people get stuck until they have a Plan. And missing that plan makes them miss the goals

    Taking action is always more important than waiting to the perfect plan

    1. I often wonder where the resistance comes from, the voice that says delay, start tomorrow, wait til you’re better… Ego? Evolution? Super-Ego? Parents? Teachers? Peers?

  2. Excellent advice. We need to instill this mindset at a very early age. I remember my father saying to me when I was a teen: “get up and dance with that girl” – My immediate reaction was, “but I can’t dance well enough”. Looking back, I wish I had danced more often…
    Choose yourself, don’t wait to be picked.

    1. Wow – that is brutal father intervention… But I could probably have done with a similar kick 😉

  3. Malcolm Gladwell pointed in his book “Ouliers” that 10.000 hours is the ammount of time needed to become a master in any discipline:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS5EsTc_-2Q

    The sooner you start the earlier you will reach those 10.000 hours.

    I would recommend the post “What should do when you don’t know what to do” from Paul B. Brown:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/actiontrumpseverything/2012/07/13/what-should-you-do-when-you-dont-know-what-to-do-act-first-think-later/

    I’m amazed about how my little child learns so fast by following these simple steps:

    1. Act
    2. Learn & Adjust
    3. Build on what you learn
    4. Act again

    Best regards

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