Mastery: What is it really?

 

On Mastery

Back in the early part of the twentieth century, Andres Segovia was considered the greatest Spanish guitarist of all time. He continued to perform and record until 1977 when he was 84 years old! In addition to performing, he also was a dedicated teacher of the guitar method he made famous.

The Maestro

After retiring from performing, he began teaching younger players his technique on a full-time basis. One day, a group of students showed up at his studio for their lesson. As they’d arrived a few minutes early, they were able to sit and listen to the master finishing up his own practice session. The students were amazed at his still formidable skills.

When he finished Segovia opened the door and invited the students in. One of the students asked him why he continued to practice so diligently at the ripe old age of 90. (He lived to be 94.)

Segovia replied, “Because I’m beginning to see some improvement.”

I love this story because it illustrates, perfectly, the notion behind mastery.

I’m frequently amazed at people who think they have nothing to learn, especially when it comes to topics on which they are “expert.” Because of their success they believe they have nothing more to gain by opening their minds, seeing other expert’s techniques, asking other folks how they do it.

One of the greatest compliments I ever received was from a man called Bill that I considered a mentor. (He was my boss’ boss.) I was a raw sales trainer with all of a year’s experience and he happened to drop into a class I was leading. The subject had to do with the fundamentals of audio equipment and my boss was a stickler for people learning the theory behind the equipment; they even had to pass a written exam before being certified to sell.

Anyway, I’d learned that the easiest way for people to truly learn something like this was to relate it to something they already knew. This analogous technique is very effective for getting knowledge into one’s long-term memory; at least, long enough to pass a test! (This phenomenon is known as the Ebbinghaus Curve – how quickly we forget something after learning it.) The other trainers I’d been watching had a bunch of stock analogies that they could use for most of the class. I had been stealing them, too, as they made sense to me.

At the same time, we had people coming to class for whom the old analogies weren’t applicable as they were younger or of a different social stratum or had alternative interests. As a result, I had begun asking people their hobbies, interests, and fascinations as part of the class. This allowed me to come up with new analogies on the fly that more closely matched the students.

Bill watched me in action that afternoon and came up to me on a break. He congratulated me on the way the class was connecting with what I was teaching and then he said,

“The way you asked some of them what they were into to come up with an analogy just for them was inspired! I’m going to add that to my bag of tricks. Thanks!”

This was a guy who had been teaching adults for over 30 years and he learned something from me?!? It was at that moment that I realized that, if I were smart, I’d keep learning for the rest of my life.

Is a master someone who is highly skilled at something? Sure! And one aspect of mastery is being on the lookout for something you didn’t know and making it your own. It’s how they got to be highly skilled!

Open your eyes to the world of Mastery!

The Case for having a Personal / Executive Coach

 “Why would anyone want to hire a personal/executive coach?”

I get this question regularly from friends, colleagues, and people that I meet while networking. I’ve been working on my answer for a long time and I think the one I like the best is, “Because they want to be their personal best!”

When I first took up golf, many years ago, I got the bug really badly. I was hooked on the game and wanted to get better at it and fast. I practiced. Hard. One summer, I hit a thousand shots a day in the field behind my parents’ house, completely wearing out the grooves on the face of my pitching wedge in the process. I figured that’s how you got better at things; by doing them over and over. As a result, I didn’t take my first lesson from a PGA teaching professional until I was over 60! I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I’d gotten that “coach” at a much earlier age. I eventually got my handicap down to single digits (it isn’t any more!) but what could that have been?

I tell this story to highlight a couple of different things.

First, hard work will only get you so far. Don’t misunderstand, you absolutely need to work hard to get really good at nearly anything. Misplaced hard work, however, will require you to take longer to reach your goals. You’ll need to be aware of everything going on in your life, or the task at hand, and critique yourself in order to work on the right things. If your sense of self is anything like most people’s, you’re not prepared to do this, at least not with a high degree of efficiency.

Many people, as a result, end up working on the wrong things and taking too long to make the improvements that would help them.

Second, unlike learning to play golf, work is not a repetitive process for most working people these days. You may find yourself performing many different tasks over the course of a day; meeting with different personalities, chairing meetings, managing people on your team, being managed by your boss. All these things require you to be engaged and focused. In many cases, they require you to learn as you go. This environment often takes most or all your energy and attention to get the job done in a high quality manner. That makes it difficult to step back and look at the bigger picture of your life.

The result? You find yourself working in some roles longer than you should, missing promotions and other opportunities to learn and grow and shine. You suddenly wake up and realize you’ve been in the same role for five years.

So, how does a personal coach help you find the short cut to success?

A certified coach has been through a rigorous training process, learning how to help you get the most out of yourself.

·       They use different techniques to help understand your strengths and how to use them.

·       They may show you how to identify the things you don’t do as well and either shore them up or avoid using them.

·       They hold a mirror up to help you see how others see you and then help you decide if that’s the image you want to project or decide if there is a different one.

·       They help you plan the best and most efficient method for getting you to where you want to go.

·       They tell you things you need to hear, and not necessarily what you want to hear and hold you accountable for your actions.

·       They help you develop your plan for today and the future.

 

Is a personal coach right for you? 

If they’re the right one for you, yes. Not every coach is right for every person – we’re humans, after all – but if there is a connection between the two of you the results can be almost magical. (If there isn’t a connection, keep looking.)

Ready to begin? 

Call me and see if we connect.