How to Become a Master in Your Profession and Learning

George Leonard, Aikido Master and Executive, June 2017.

Top performers in various professions, such as sports and business and in personal skills such as relationship
management, have revealed their secret in recent studies: The key to top performance in any profession or
personal skill is mastery. To obtain mastery one must endure the long process of growth spurts, slight
regresses, and long plateaus seen in the diagram below. The problem is that the majority of people can not
handle the plateaus. They don’t understand that plateaus are periods of time when
skills transform from cognitive understanding to unconscious ability. It’s the
difference between knowing the theory of a skill and actually having the skill.
First we learn the theory and feel the excitement of learning something new, then
regress a little while the information is processed, and then plateau while the skill
takes time to become second nature. However, there are three types of folks
that do not achieve mastery:

The Dabbler: This type gets excited at the growth spurts; but when he plateaus, he thinks there is something
wrong with the activity and then quits. He believes in immediate gratification and quick results. Since he’s
impatient by nature, he may quit a job, a course, or a relationship because he feels he's stagnating. In reality, he
didn't understand that plateaus are a necessary part of assimilation of new skills. Since the dabbler can’t wait
for long term results he is always trying one thing after another and never finishing what he started. This is the
person who constantly changes jobs, schools, or relationships because he doesn't have the patience and
endurance to continue when he reaches his plateaus.

The Obsessive: This type also values quick results and becomes frustrated when he hits a plateau. However,
instead of quiting the activity when he plateaus, he works extra hard at reproducing another growth spurt. He's
the CEO that downsizes the company to immediately increase short term profits at the expense of long term
growth. He’s the over achiever who believes that life and career should be an endless series of climaxes and
peak experiences. This type asks “why am I not progressing faster? then attempts to rush the process. The
obsessive often ruins the company, his career, or relationships because of boredom with his plateaus.

The Hacker: This type doesn’t care about quick results because he is happy to stay on his plateau. He likes the
plateau and does nothing to move himself to the next growth spurt. This person does not leave a job or
relationship; the job or relationship usually leaves him. He is satisfied with mediocrity; since he is not
interested in self-improvement, he becomes burdensome to the company or team and eventually gets fired.
This is the type for whom comfort is very important and who feels comfortable in never leaving the plateau.

Challenge to Mastery: The main challenge is to deal with the plateaus when we feel we’re making no progress
at all. We must realize that plateaus are times when new behaviors become assimilated into unconscious habits.
It's unconscious competence, not theoretical knowledge that leads to mastery. The dabbler and obsessive are
products of the past forty years of pop culture. They’ve been conditioned to expect immediate gratification and
short term pleasure at the expense of long term results; i.e. politicians who spend more than the government
has and the people who voted for them, resulting in national debt and a culture of personal debt. Also,
quarterly profit oriented executives and shareholders that sacrifice long term company growth for short term
numbers and dividends. These are also the doctors who recommend quick fixes like surgery instead of proper
diet and exercise. In addition, due to short lifespans of our ancestors, we all have a genetic tendency for short
term thinking. Nonetheless, to be wealthier, we must learn long-term saving and planning. Finally, the hackers
have historically been the members of society who want benefits without work.

Conclusion: The keys to mastery in any area are: Good Instruction from someone qualified that gives both
positive and negative feedback, Practice with patience and long term perspective, Surrender to the
inevitable plateaus and routine, Intention to improve, and enjoying The Edge that mastery eventually brings.
The secret is to resist the temptation to quit and try something different simply because one is bored or
impatient with the plateaus. As long as learning continues, the plateaus will allow a person to solidify the
skills that inevitably lead to mastery.
How to Become a Master in Your Profession and Learning

1. Give an example of someone you know who is a dabbler, obsessive, and hacker.

2. Give an example of someone who is a master in your company. How did he achieve mastery?

3. What areas would you like to become a master in?