There is NO Mastery
Laughing into the phone, in between chuckles I said…
“There’s an email in there somewhere…”
Here’s that email:
Mike Samuels, the world’s most British copywriter, and I were sipping our respective potions and hashing out the product launch webinar I’m putting together when we got to talking about each of our upcoming travel plans.
He to Spain, where I told him to take a train down to Valencia to sip on the greatest orange juice I’ve ever done tasted, and I to Tokyo, mostly for the sushi.
Which raised the topic of the quietly famous documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
If you’re not familiar, Jiro Dreams of Sushi focuses on revered sushi chef Jiro Ono as he strives for perfection in his work, while his eldest son, Yoshikazu, has trouble living up to his father’s great legacy.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a lovely display of striving for mastery, and is packed full of lessons for anyone interested in improvement of any kind.
The work required to achieve mastery is immense…
…and I’d argue that the things most worth mastering, are things where there is no upper limit.
Take writing for example.
Every day when I sit down to write an email to you, work on a new product, or craft sales copy, I aim to crawl my way closer to mastery.
However…
Deep in the belly of my heart, in the nooks and crannies of my being, I know I’m never going to attain mastery of the written word, let alone see myself as a master of writing.
And that’s not because I don’t believe I’m good at what I do.
But because there’s simply no upper limit to one’s ability as a writer.
I doubt Sir Ernest Hemingway ever woke up one day and said, “well, that’s it for me. I’m never going to get any better. Where are those 40s of whiskey at?”
When you accept there’s no upper limit nor pinnacle where you can comfortably say “I’ve mastered this skill,” you become free to work on the tireless task of improving, bit by bit.
I’ve been experiencing much the same with my yoga practice.
I can say with utter certainty that I’ve improved in leaps and bounds from where I started 10 months ago.
You see, yoga is about control.
Control over mere millimetres, control over your mind, and control over your body.
While I’m much more comfortable, and have increased my level of control in nearly every pose, I’m nowhere near anything resembling mastery in any pose—nor will I ever be.
Because mastery is an elusive, slippery eel.
You may grasp it for a brief, euphoric moment…before it slips through your hands once more.
Whether we’re talking about crafting sushi, your writing ability, or something physical such as yoga, mastery is a place to aim for, but you must understand that you’re never going to stop one day and say, “I’ve finally mastered this.”
There is no mastery, only incremental improvement.
This mindset of slow, gradual improvement on the quest for mastery (while holding onto the fact you’ll never truly achieve mastery) runs through the backbone of The Sorcerers Guild newsletter.
The next issue of which goes to my Scribe in 10 short days, and will walk subscribers step-by-step through the process of choosing a market/niche with a burning problem to solve, how to create an offer they’re happy to spend their doubloons on, and of course…how to sell the hell out of it with the godly gift of email marketing.
This is an essential issue for unlocking your First Level of Freedom…
To subscribe in time, go ye here:
http://sorcerersguildnewsletter.com/
Yours sorcerously,
Alexander Mullan