Overview

When people think of mastery, they usually picture a person at the peak of their craft, often after a long and arduous journey. I am of the opinion that mastery is within the reach of any able-bodied and capable individual. To truly apply the sustained effort that mastery demands, one must have a degree of passion within themselves for the craft. Otherwise the efforts will become sporadic and ineffective. Save yourself the struggle!

The interesting thing about mastery is that it is a motion, rather than an achievement. Mastery is a sport in an on-going heated match alongside you. There isn’t a point where you will have arrived and are free to retire. You are welcome to stop at any point along the way. For those who want to approach mastery, they should understand the devotion required upfront.

Cycles

Mastery is based around a cyclical (though not necessarily linear) process of Play, Production, and Practice.

• Play is open-ended exploration of a subject or medium. It should be lighthearted and enjoyable. Explore to discover the surrounding limitations and subtleties in expressions.
• Production of a work is a thoughtful, goal-oriented effort. While one is learning something new, reproduction of an existing or similar material is recommended to begin. One will further their skills even more through original compositions.
• Practice is the building and accumulation of memory along a given task. This happens automatically through all actions, though with practices requiring a variety of coordinated action, a systematic approach serves one best.

Play

One must work to discover the nuances of their medium. If one wishes to work well with anything, one must understand it at great depth. Some of this may be accomplished by rote memorization, though only those who have spent the time and played with it will truly express mastery.

When playing with a medium, explore to find its limitations, and recognize the differences between its limitations and your own. Continue to push boundaries when you believe it possible, and wonder at the possibilities of what you’ve yet to try.

Produce

Until your familiarity with the medium approaches second-nature, your efforts within a task will always require a degree of effort. Once you have developed that profound resonance, the actions may flow without involvement of the mind.

Without the assistance of an experienced mentor or resource, it can more challenging to understand your tools and processes. Learning can be inefficient and tedious. In these instances, find an example of a similar work that inspires you, and attempt to recreate it yourself. The more you resonate with the goal, the greater the results.

Practice

If you notice that a particular task challenges you, spend additional time repeating the steps. Make as many minor variations as you can in the details. If certain tasks are related, try composing them in different ways or orders, and see how your process shifts. Pay particular attention to tasks which are perceived as important. Mechanical or physical tasks involving little-to-no abstraction are ideal because they are the simplest to adapt to rote practice.