3 Steps to Master your Craft

Few years ago, I read this book from Malcom Gladwell, Outliers, which was recommended to me by a very good friend of mine. Many of you will know the book and probably read too. You probably remember that in there he is talking about more than 10,000 hours needed to me master any topic, any craft. It may sound at first like a lot but this is definitely what I have encountered in my own experience too. Would it be the same for you too?

I was thinking about it recently it recently, reflecting on my journey and studying as well other people journeys and the steps we’ve all taken and I realise that more than just these hours, which represents altogether about 417 days, there actually 3 steps you need to get there.

·????????Role Models

The first step required for you is to find yourself role models. These are people that have simply accomplished what you are looking to accomplish. Ideally it would be good to know them personally but most likely it won’t be the case. Should you have privilege to know them personally, you should definitely take advantage of this proximity. This is Power right there. ?In fact, should you develop a relationship with them, they may actually become your mentors. We should all have one.

Whether they are mentors or role models, you simply want to study carefully their lives and emulate their journeys as much as possible for you to go faster and void pitfalls.

To this day, I do have mentors and also role models and I’m very busy dissecting their life story.

·????????Immersion

The second step is immersion. This one is probably for me the most important. It is extremely difficult to go it all alone. I’ve done it and clearly would not recommend it. Whatever you are looking to achieve, you’ll be seriously tested and unless you are immersing yourself fully in an environment that will incentivise you to make progress, you’ll simply find it impossible to move forward. Do you remember learning a foreign language? When did you make faster progress? Was it when you were at school or home fighting to learn every single word in a context or was it at all when you made a trip to a country where you had no choice but to speak to people in that language? It makes a HUGE difference. I have been learning Spanish few years ago and I could still remember the vast progress I made when I travelled to both Barcelona and Bogota. You get the point.

·????????Spaced repetition

The third step is spaced repetition.?This is probably the step people will miss the much. Usually people will say something like: Yes I’ve read already, I’ve been to this seminar already. I’ve done it once. Would really become a doctor by shadowing doctors once? Will Michael Jordan become the all-time great he is by practising only once? This is where we are going back to Malcom?Gladwell and the 10,000 hours. To become good at something, you’ll need to do it again, again and again. For your brand to emerge and to stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to work at it over a longer period of time. When we deliver Awareness programme to our clients, this is something we are making sure they fully understand. ?How do we do it concretely? Very happy to tell you more. Do reach out through this link and we could chat about it.

So Malcom Gladwell got it right, it takes a significant amount of time to master your craft but more than just the hours, you need a strategy to fast track your journey and give it the best chances possible to achieve success. These 3 steps will surely help you. All the best.

Tony Tiyou?is the founder and CEO of?Renewables in Africa (RiA)?is a Clean Energy Company raising Awareness about Renewable Energy in Africa and across the globe. Interested in our Awareness Program? Click?HERE?to find out more or talk with us on?Clubhouse.