Reading Notes
2 Minute Read | Laptop or Tablet Recommended
Topics and Themes
Mastery defined; Continual engagement; Being realistic with time investments.
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Mastery is continual engagement with your craft.
That’s it.
Mastery is not some exhaulted place you get to. It’s not some destination you arrive at. And, it’s not enlightenment, nirvana, or satori.
It’s just continual engagement. Usually, it’s engagement with something you can’t even fully grasp or comprehend (music, for me). There’s always a beautiful sense of mystery in true mastery.
Mastery is a daily dedication to engage, follow up, come back to, and reengage with your craft every day.
It’s like that saying: “How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time.”
It’s almost too simple, right? But it works, and it’s compassionate to ourselves, too.
Thinking about mastery as a process, rather than a product, has vast implications for learning anything.
For example, I wanted to study orchestration on a super deep level. So, I got a copy of Daphnis et Chloé by Maurice Ravel and studied it for three years. My only job was to continually return to the score and study. I focused on revisiting, on sitting down, on opening the pages. Once I was there, it felt easier to just move forward with my work. Eventually, I finished analyzing the entire score. I learned a great deal. I applied everything I learned to the score for Finding Solace (If you want to hang with me at the premiere, you can grab a ticket here. Scroll down to Finding Solace, and I’ll see you on August 8th, 2025.)
My point: I cared more about continual engagement than completion. I ate that damned whale, one bite at a time.
If something is important enough, I will come back to it every single day, even if I don’t feel like it. I'll do a minimum of work and then walk away.
Mastery Doesn’t Require Hours and Hours of Time Every Day
Mastery doesn’t require an excessive amount of time each day. All it needs is a modest investment to reconnect. I never worry about the amount of time I invest each day, but I prioritize returning to the work. I prioritize the process.
For example, when I practice composing, I have a bare minimum task I do each day: I compose two notes. That’s it. I always have time and energy for two notes. It’s easy. I consistently come back and reengage. On other days, I have more energy to compose. I end up writing an entire page of music. I love those days! But no matter what, I always return the next day.
Mastery is continual engagement with your craft. That’s it.
I expect that whatever I continually return to will become intimately familiar to me over time. My “mastery” of the skill might appear remarkable to anyone who doesn’t see how I got there. They might think I spent far more hours learning it than I actually did. They might think I’m superhuman.
I’m not.
I’m just willing to eat whales one bite at a time.