Just-Like Cookbooks and Mastery
My wife put her new cookbook down. Hard.
“It’s another stupid ‘just-like’ cookbook,” she sneered.
My wife hates “just-like” cookbooks. They’re the cookbooks that suggest that any dish, no matter how complex, can be created in half the time of the famous recipe, if not less. They claim it’s “just like the original.”
My wife knows what every great cook knows. There are some things that you can’t rush. Good things do, indeed, take time.
That’s true for many things in life besides cooking. Quality relationships don’t happen in ten minutes. They take time. Mastery takes time, too. Don’t be fooled.
If you want to be great at anything, you can count on two things. It will take time. And it will take work.
Researchers tell us that it takes 10,000 hours to master a domain of knowledge or practice. You can’t shorten that by much.
But you can reduce the time it takes to get that 10,000 hours and the value you get from it. You can get better sooner.
Plan. Don’t leave your education and development to chance. Figure out what you need to do. Plan to do it. Do the foundational work first.
Remember that many times process matters. As Tim Hurson says, “You don’t get a baby by getting nine women pregnant for a month each.”
Don’t be clueless. Jack Canfield says that “Success leaves clues.” Look for what’s worked for others. See if it will work for you.
Be consistent. Do something every day to improve. Not almost every day. Not “on an average day.” Every day.
Use all the tools. Take classes. Read books. Talk to those ahead of you on the trail. Use role models for guidance. Find mentors to help. Practice, practice, practice.
Take stock from time to time. Access how you’re doing. Change what needs changing.
The bad news is that all of this takes work. But if you want real mastery, that’s what’s needed.
But there’s good news, too. Most people won’t do the work. They’ll settle for the quick route to expertise that’s “just like” the real thing.
