Have you ever wondered how a few people are able to deliver perfection with consistency. See top athletes, award winning producers, chess-grandmasters etc. What makes someone an expert? What are the basic principles behind it? Let’s have a look into it:
Gaining expertise in something depends on a few factors:
- Desired input: The amount of effort required for an individual to learn, continue and master the specific craft.
- Actual input: The collective effort invested to learn, continue and master the specific craft.
- Baseline: This consist of current state of your mental and physical potential along with any added advantages.
- Definition: Your definition of being an expert in something can be totally different that the other individual.
Becoming an expert in something is directly related to honing a few principles to remove the fear and procrastination that are directly related to preventing you from starting and continuing further.
Along with this, it is also important to iterate regularly. Improvisation will happen only if you know where you are doing good and where you are not.
Excellence is a long-term result of perseverance. But even after knowing all of this, most of the people fail to become expert in their own field.
Here are the principles that could help you to become the master of your craft:
1. Narrow down your thoughts
Often, we find ourselves overwhelmed by endless choices. As the number of options grows, our brain’s cognitive ability to make rational decisions diminishes.
When faced with too many possibilities, our mind tends to freeze. This paradox of choice can become a significant obstacle in decision-making and also in the overall progress. Starting a project with an overwhelming scope can leave us stuck, unsure of where to begin. The end result can often be a state of demotivation.
To avoid this, you should narrow down the scope. Cut through the unnecessary noise. Out of the initial few ideas coming to your mind, choose the one that excites you the most. That might not always be the best idea but you can always iterate and improve as you go.
Expand your narrowed scope gradually, working on one element at a time, ensuring you perfect each before moving on.
2. Define your own process
If you come across an idea to work upon, you have mainly two options to start: to imitate it or to originate it. I suggest to begin from imitation first. It gives you quick start with a referential point in mind. You can ideate well and improvise quickly. It helps you understand your craft better.
When you are able to deliver good work with consistency, you can gradually expand your horizons to master the art of origination. This is where you will pursue to deliver great work quickly from scratch, without the need to imitate.
I follow the same process. I start with imitation and move towards origination later. If I’m writing a blog on a specific topic, I first find the similar blogs written by the top 1% domain experts. I then analyze these references, noting the good and bad things. The idea is to imitate the good elements common in the top blogs while the elements that are not working out well for those.
Gather feedback once you’ve brought idea into shape. Ask your peers how your work compares to the best examples you found. Understand their perspectives on how to improve it further.
Incorporate the best suggestions, refine your work, and repeat this process until you achieve the desired outcome.
Once you’ve mastered imitation and produced great results, you’ll be ready to move to the next stage: to pursue delivering greatness through origination.
3. Start simple; refine over time
When you have to create something, you have two approaches to follow: either jump in right away with a simple, rough version, or take your time to craft a more polished product from the start. But, which one approach is better – to start with basic or to start with good?
It’s much quicker to produce a rough draft and then improve it than to try getting everything right from the start.
This is because our brains are naturally tuned to spot mistakes. If we start from a rough version, we know where to iterate. On the other hand, if we aim for perfection right away, we lack a starting point to refine, leaving us stuck, waiting for ‘brilliant ideas’ to magically appear.
If you have idea to implement, divide it into stages and implement the smallest, quickest version of it without thinking about the end-state.
A false notion prevalent among creators is that they should wait for inspiring ideas to strike in their mind before starting on something. But, that’s just procrastination.
True creators make decisions based on what excites them at the moment. Any direction can be a good starting point, as you can always refine and iterate later. This is the essence of the creative process.
Imagine how an artist creates a masterpiece. Initially, they have a rough idea of what they want to create but aren’t certain where to begin. So, they start with a simple, rough sketch. The artist knows the first draft isn’t perfect, but they continue refining and iterating until the final vision comes to life.
4. Experiment for excellence
If you are learning a musical instrument by playing a certain tune every day then you can become the expert in that specific tone but not in the instrument. To become an expert in the instrument well you would to experiment different variations.
Visit a pottery shop in any nearby mall and then visit a pottery shop in small town. You will observe despite of having more skills and practicing pottery for decades the local shop owner in town is struggling to get his ends meet. This is because he is producing the same stuff every days since ages. There is no element of variation.
A craftsperson’s work is 90% routine and 10% structured spontaneity. The magic happens in the moments where routine meets experimentation. Routine can take you to long way but if you need to excel then you would have to experiment.
If you think you’ve learnt your craft well, then test multiple small variations. When an experiment sparks excitement, take a moment to pause, reflect, and explore it further. This process is the game of volume. The number of experiments is more important than the time you are spending experimenting.
Every time you test an iteration, you receive a feedback from within, telling you what you could improve further. All those “small improvements” compound over time and helps you become an expert.
5. Navigate the fear
As you will progress you will face different blockers that will slow you down. Mostly these are fears in-built in us. I’ve highlighted the major fears below:
Fear of failure: Most of the people aspire for great things but they never start – mostly because of the fear of failure they are carrying with them. It prevents them to come out of their shell.
Not trying is always worse than failure. Embracing the concept of failing till you excel.
Fear of judgement: Be selective about people while reaching out for feedback. Find people with similar interest areas, mindset, level of skill, and vision. Learn to accept criticism in your work.
Fear of change: Self-suppression is one of those major blockers. If you have already accepted that you are good the way you are then you will repeatedly keep on producing the same level of level of work you are producing now. There will be zero or minimal improvement.
You need to accept it that you are not the most optimized version of yourself in your current original state. In order to be great you would need to come out of the cocoon of your own individuality. You need to stretch and start embracing the changes within.
You would need to shadow your original reflexes and believes stopping you from adding newness in your work. What is more important than preserving originality? Being better, more impactful, more efficient and unique.
If you find yourself struggling to start because you believe your standards are too high to meet, you’re deceiving yourself. You’re actually too lazy to embark on a new journey for a positive change while leaving your bad work behind.
Combining the pieces
You can make your journey towards gaining expertise in something smooth by focusing on these key principles:
- Narrow down the scope: Remove distractions by focusing on a specific path that excites you. Gradually expand, tackling one element at a time and perfecting each before moving on to the next.
- Define your process: List down the good and bad points from successful references. Adopt the good elements in common and avoid the bad ones, gather feedback, and iterate based on suggestions.
- Start with imperfection: Start with a rough draft and iterate it improve gradually. It’s more efficient to improve a flawed work than to aim for perfection from the beginning.
- Experiment iteratively: If you believe you’ve mastered your craft, experiment with various small changes. When the outcome excites you, pause to reflect and delve deeper into it. Repeat till you excel.
- Remove the fear: Don’t let any fear prevent you from starting. Embrace the change as you progress. Seek feedback from people with similar interest areas, mindset, level of skill, and vision.
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