Jack of All Trades
At some point in the past year or two, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to reach mastery level in a particular field or task. Like many people, I made the mistake of buying into “limiting beliefs” or assuming that great achievements are the product of raw, natural talent.
When people watch Roger Federer play tennis, it’s easy to chalk up his greatness to preternatural ability. Certainly some aspects of Federer’s greatness at the sport of tennis are innate (for instance, he would never be as good as he is if he peaked at a height of 5′4″), but it’s a mistake to assume that he is intrinsically good at the game. This is an error of oversight that people make in a variety of ways about a variety of individuals who are elite at a particular thing.
The truth is, the key to why Federer is so good at tennis (or why Depp is so good at acting, or why Oprah is so good at being Oprah, etc) is that he has dedicated his life to that thing. I would guess that most people go through life never fully dedicating themselves to reaching mastery level at any one thing. They convince themselves that they aren’t capable of being as good at something as the current masters on account of not having the natural ability to excel at that thing. And so, they never try.
I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I can point out examples in my own life of how I’ve allowed a limiting belief to, well, limit me from achieving at a certain level. Take poker tournaments for example. I consider poker tournaments to be one thing that I probably understand and perform at better than most in the arena. However, the reason I’m not considered among the very best isn’t because of an absence of ability to reach that level. It’s because at some point I decided that the players thinking and achieving on levels above me were there on account of being better than me in some absolute sense.
Years ago, I essentially copped out from doing the work it would have taken me to be viewed as one of the game’s greats. It’s not too late to change this. Starting today, I could completely immerse myself in a life dedicated to being second to none at poker tournaments, but I view the window as having closed for such a decision to be sensible. I’d rather keep my options open because I don’t think there’s much of a life to be had as a poker player anymore. Instead, I’ll just keep playing recreationally and hope that my good (but not elite) abilities one day result in a windfall payday.
I could go on about this some more, but I’ve already rambled more than I intended to. I created this entry primarily because I was thinking about a great article by poker blogger and newly-minted TV personality Tony Dunst, The Theory of Grinding. If the topic of what it takes to reach mastery level at something interests you, check out Tony’s article. He’s already said it better than I could (without dedicating myself to writing the greatest blog ever on the subject). 
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