Mastery requires focus, time, and the discipline to say no to the countless things competing for your attention.
We’ve all heard the advice: Work at something until you get it right.
I think mastery requires something more.
Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.
Mastery is becoming world-class at what you do, even if what you do never makes you world-famous. It’s pursuing excellence, not perfection, and consistently producing high-quality results.
Eventually, something interesting happens. Other people look at what you do and think it’s magic. You look at it and think, That’s just what I do.
The Enemy of Mastery Is Minutiae
The problem is that we’re surrounded by minutiae.
Our teams need something. A customer calls. Another meeting appears on the calendar. Family needs our attention. Social media beckons. Someone else has an “emergency.” Then there are all those great new ideas popping into our own heads.
Everything is competing for our most valuable resources: time and attention.
I know this trap personally.
For years, I’ve been a “get it done guy.” I work hard, and I care about producing quality results. As a result, people ask me to do lots of different things.
The downside? I’ve become good at a lot of things, but I’m not satisfied with being good at a lot of things.
I’m exploring a different question now: What am I uniquely capable of becoming great at?
I don’t want to spend the rest of my life as a generalist. I want to become a specialist who contributes with excellence wherever I’m working and serving.
Mastery Requires Saying No
Think about a restaurant with 100 items on the menu. The kitchen might produce plenty of decent meals, but how many can it truly master?
Leadership is similar.
We cannot say yes to everything and remain focused enough to become exceptional at something.
That means saying no to pointless meetings, other people’s emergencies, unnecessary tasks, and sometimes even our own exciting new ideas.
Create Margin for Mastery
Here’s my challenge: Block time to identify your greatest contributions to your team, organization, and customers.
Then look at everything else on your plate.
What can you delegate? What can you dump? What deserves a deliberate no?
You probably won’t clear your plate overnight, but every piece of minutiae you remove creates margin.
And that margin can become something much more valuable:
Time to pursue mastery.
So ask yourself: Am I becoming world-class at what I do best or simply becoming world-class at getting more things done?
Until next time, make today GREAT!
P.S. If you need help discerning what to focus on and what to remove from your plate, visit https://mcclurecoaching.com/free-strategy-session/ to schedule a free call to review your goals and develop a strategic plan to accomplish them.
