On committing to the long game…
We humans get bored and distracted easily. We’re all for immediate gains over long-term outcomes.
Which is why it’s common for us to seek the quickest route possible to achieve our aims. Or give up entirely when it seems to be taking too long, or feels too hard.
“It’s easy to get on the path of mastery. The real challenge lies in staying on it.” ~ George Leonard(Author of Mastery, an aikido practitioner and central figure in the “Human Potential Movement” started in the 1960s)
Taking the shortcut might be an easy route, but it means you lose out on plenty of learning opportunities…
Mastery is about repeated practice and improvement in the pursuit of excellence. At the very least, it involves getting better at doing something you want to do. This applies to both big and little things in our lives. Whether you’re learning how code for work, take photos for pleasure, play tennis for sport, or bake a lemon drizzle cake for fun.
We’re all capable of achieving mastery. Because we are all capable of showing up and putting in the work. But, we have to want to do it. Again, and again, and again. We have to understand the benefit of a longer term outcome, and place more importance on it, than a quick return.
“The desire of most people today for quick, sure, and highly visible results, is perhaps the deadliest enemy of mastery.”
Mastery is about more than just learning how to do something. It’s about learning how to do it well.
What’s the one thing you want to get better at, which you aren’t yet putting in enough time and effort on?
Why not stick with it a little longer and see where the journey of improvement takes you.
:)
