by Gary Keller
Mastery plays a key role in your domino run.
I believe the healthy view of mastery means giving the best you have to become the best you can be at your most important work. The path is one of an apprentice learning and relearning the basics on a never-ending journey of greater experience and expertise. Think of it this way: At some point white belts training to advance know the same basic karate moves black belts know—they simply haven’t practiced enough to be able to do them as well. The creativity you see at a black- belt level comes from mastery of the white-belt fundamentals. Since there is always another level to learn, mastery actually means you’re a master of what you know and an apprentice of what you don’t. In other words, we become masters of what is behind us and apprentices for what is ahead. This is why mastery is a journey. Alex Van Halen has said that when he would go out at night his brother Eddie would be sitting on his bed practicing the guitar, and when he came home many hours later Eddie would be in the same place, still practicing. That’s the journey of mastery—it never ends.
In 1993, psychologist K. Anders Ericsson published “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance” in the journal Psychological Review. As the benchmark for understanding mastery, this article debunked the idea that an expert performer was gifted, a natural, or even a prodigy. Ericsson essentially gave us our first real insights into mastery and birthed the idea of the “10,000-hour rule.” His research identified a common pattern of regular and deliberate practice over the course of years in elite performers that made them what they were—elite. In one study, elite violinists had separated themselves from all others by each accumulating more than 10,000 hours of practice by age 20. Thus the rule. Many elite performers complete their journey in about ten years, which, if you do the math, is an average of about three hours of deliberate practice a day, every day, 365 days a year. Now, if your ONE Thing relates to work and you put in 250 workdays a year (five days a week for 50 weeks), to keep pace on your mastery journey you’ll need to average four hours a day. Sound familiar? It’s not a random number. That’s the amount of time you need to time block every day for your ONE Thing.
More than anything else, expertise tracks with hours invested. Michelangelo once said, “If the people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem wonderful at all.” His point is obvious. Time on a task, over time, eventually beats talent every time. I’d say you can “book that,” but actually you should “block it.”
When you commit to time block your ONE Thing, make sure you approach it with a mastery mentality. This will give you the best opportunity to be the most productive you can be, and ultimately the best you can become. And here’s what’s interesting: the more productive you are, the more likely you are to receive several additional payoffs you would otherwise have missed. The pursuit of mastery bears gifts.
As you progress along the path of mastery, both your self-confidence and your success competence will grow. You’ll make a discovery: the path of mastery is not so different from one pursuit to the next. What might pleasantly surprise you is how giving yourself over to mastering ONE Thing serves as a platform for, and speeds up the process of, doing other things. Knowledge begets knowledge and skills build on skills. It’s what makes future dominoes fall more easily.
Mastery is a pursuit that keeps giving, because it’s a path that never ends. In his landmark book Mastery, George Leonard tells the story of Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo. According to legend, as Kano approached death, he called his students around him and asked to be buried in his white belt. The symbolism wasn’t lost. The highest-ranking martial artist of his discipline embraced the emblem of the beginner for his life and beyond, because to him the journey of the successful lifelong learner was never over. Time blocking is essential to mastery, and mastery is essential to time blocking. They go hand in hand—when you do one, you do the other.
2. MOVE FROM “E” TO “P”
When coaching top performers, I often ask, “Are you doing this to simply do the best you can do, or are you doing this to do it the best it can be done?” Although it’s not meant to be a trick question, it trips people up anyway. Many realize that although they are giving their best effort, they aren’t doing the best that could be done, because they aren’t willing to change what they are doing. The path of mastering something is the combination of not only doing the best you can do at it, but also doing it the best it can be done. Continually improving how you do something is critical to getting the most from time blocking.
It’s called moving from “E” to “P.”
When we roll out of bed in the morning and start tackling the day, we do so in one of two ways: Entrepreneurial (“E”) or Purposeful (“P”). Entrepreneurial is our natural approach. It’s seeing something we want to do or that needs to be done and racing off to do it with enthusiasm, energy, and our natural abilities. No matter the task, all natural ability has a ceiling of achievement, a level of productivity and success that eventually tops out. Although this varies from person to person and task to task, everybody in life has a natural ceiling for everything. Give some people a hammer and they’re an instant carpenter. Give one to me and I’m all thumbs. In other words, some people can naturally use a hammer extremely well with minimal instruction or practice, but there are others, like me, who hit their ceiling of achievement the moment they’re holding one. If the outcome of your efforts is acceptable at whatever level of achievement you reach, then you high-five and move on. But when you’re going about your ONE Thing, any ceiling of achievement must be challenged, and this requires a different approach— a Purposeful approach.
Highly productive people don’t accept the limitations of their natural approach as the final word on their success. When they hit a ceiling of achievement, they look for new models and systems, better ways to do things to push them through. They pause just long enough to examine their options, they pick the best one, and then they’re right back at it. Ask an “E” to cut some firewood and the Entrepreneurial person would likely shoulder an axe and head straight for the woods. On the other hand, the Purposeful person might ask, “Where can I get a chainsaw?” With a “P” mindset, you can achieve breakthroughs and accomplish things far beyond your natural abilities. You must simply be willing to do whatever it takes.
FIG. 31 In the long run, “P” beats “E” every time.
You can’t put limits on what you’ll do. You have to be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things if you want breakthroughs in your life. As you travel the path of mastery you’ll find yourself continually challenged to do new things. The Purposeful person follows the simple rule that “a different result requires doing something different.” Make this your mantra and breakthroughs become possible.
Too many people reach a level where their performance is “good enough” and then stop working on getting better. People on the path to mastery avoid this by continually upping their goal, challenging themselves to break through their current ceiling, and staying the forever apprentice. It’s what writer and memory champion Joshua Foer dubbed the “OK Plateau.” He illustrated it with typing. If practice time were all that mattered, over the course of our professional careers, with the millions of memos and e-mails we type, we’d all progress from the lowly chicken peck to 100 words a minute. But that doesn’t happen. We reach a level of skill we deem to be acceptable and then simply switch off the learning. We go on automatic pilot and hit one of the most common ceilings of achievement: we hit the OK Plateau.
When you’re in search of extraordinary results, accepting an OK Plateau or any other ceiling of achievement isn’t okay when it applies to your ONE Thing. When you want to break through plateaus and ceilings, there is only one approach—“P.”
In business and in life, we all start off entrepreneurially. We go after something with our current level of abilities, energy, knowledge, and effort—in short, everything that comes easily. Approaching things with “E” is comfortable becau
se it feels natural. It’s who we currently are and how we currently like to do things.
It’s also limiting.
When “E” is our only approach, we create artificial limits to what we can achieve and who we can become. If we tackle something with all “E” and then hit a ceiling of achievement, we simply bounce up against it, over and over and over. This continues until we just can’t take the disappointment anymore, become resigned to this being the only outcome we can ever have, and eventually seek out greener pastures elsewhere. When we think we’ve maxed out our potential in a situation, starting over is how we think we’ll get ahead. The problem is this becomes a vicious cycle of taking on the next new thing with renewed enthusiasm, energy, natural ability, and effort, until another ceiling is hit and disappointment and resignation set in once again. And then it’s on to—you guessed it—the next greener pasture.
Bring “P” to the same ceiling and things look different. The Purposeful approach says, “I’m still committed to growing, so what are my options?” You then use the Focusing Question to narrow those choices down to the next thing you should do. It could be to follow a new model, get a new system, or both. But be prepared. Implementing these may require new thinking, new skills, and even new relationships. Probably none of this will feel natural at first. That’s okay. Being Purposeful is often about doing what comes “unnaturally,” but when you’re committed to achieving extraordinary results, you simply do whatever it takes anyway.
When you’ve done the best you can do but are certain the results aren’t the best they can be, get out of “E” and into “P.” Look for the better models and systems, the ways that can take you farther. Then adopt new thinking, new skills, and new relationships to help you put them into action. Become Purposeful during your time block, and unlock your potential.
3. LIVE THE ACCOUNTABILITY CYCLE
There is an undeniable connection between what you do and what you get. Actions determine outcomes, and outcomes inform actions. Be accountable and this feedback loop is how you discover the things you must do to achieve extraordinary results. That’s why your final commitment is to live the accountability cycle of results.
Taking complete ownership of your outcomes by holding no one but yourself responsible for them is the most powerful thing you can do to drive your success. As such, accountability is most likely the most important of the three commitments. Without it, your journey down the path of mastery will be cut short the moment you encounter a challenge. Without it, you won’t figure out how to break through the ceilings of achievement you’ll hit along the way. Accountable people absorb setbacks and keep going. Accountable people persevere through problems and keep pushing forward. Accountable people are results oriented and never defend actions, skill levels, models, systems, or relationships that just aren’t getting the job done. They bring their best to whatever it takes, without reservation.
Accountable people achieve results others only dream of.
When life happens, you can be either the author of your life or the victim of it. Those are your only two choices— accountable or unaccountable. This may sound harsh, but it’s true. Every day we choose one approach or the other, and the consequences follow us forever.
To illustrate the difference, consider the tale of two managers of two competing businesses who both experience a sudden shift in the market. One month, there is a continuous line of customers stretching out the door. The next, no one shows up. How each manager responds makes all the difference.
FIG. 32 Don’t be a victim —live the cycle of accountability!
The accountable manager immediately tunes in: What’s happening here? She investigates exactly what she’s up against. The other manager refuses to acknowledge what’s happening. It’s a blip, a glitch, an anomaly. He shrugs it off as simply a “bad month.” Meanwhile, the accountable manager, having discovered how a competitor is grabbing market share, bites the bullet and says, So, this is the way it is, and takes ownership of the problem. If it’s to be, it’s up to me, she thinks. Being willing to address reality head-on gives her a huge edge. It puts her in a position to start thinking about what she can do differently.
The other manager keeps fighting reality. He comes up with an alternative view, placing responsibility elsewhere. That’s not how I see it, he counters. If people in the company would just do their jobs, we wouldn’t have problems like this!
The accountable manager looks for solutions. More important, she assumes she’s a part of the solution: What can I do? The moment she finds the right tactic, she acts. Circumstances won’t change by themselves, she thinks, so let’s get on with it! The other manager, having blamed everyone else, now excuses himself altogether. It’s not my job, he declares, and settles in to hoping things change for the better.
Told in this way, the difference is pretty stark, isn’t it? One is actively trying to author her destiny. The other is simply along for the ride. One is acting accountable; the other is being a victim. One will change the outcome. One won’t.
Granted, “victim” is a tough word. Please know that I’m describing the attitude, not the person, though if kept up long enough these could become one and the same. No one is a born victim; it’s simply an attitude or an approach. But if allowed to persist, the cycle becomes a habit. The opposite is also true. Anyone can be accountable at any time—and the more you choose the cycle of accountability, the more likely it is to become your automatic answer to any adversity.
Highly successful people are clear about their role in the events of their life. They don’t fear reality. They seek it, acknowledge it, and own it. They know this is the only way to uncover new solutions, apply them, and experience a different reality, so they take responsibility and run with it. They see outcomes as information they can use to frame better actions to get better outcomes. It’s a cycle they understand and use to achieve extraordinary results.
One of the fastest ways to bring accountability to your life is to find an accountability partner. Accountability can come from a mentor, a peer or, in its highest form, a coach. Whatever the case, it’s critical that you acquire an accountability relationship and give your partner license to lay out the honest truth. An accountability partner isn’t a cheerleader, although he can lift you up. An accountability partner provides frank, objective feedback on your performance, creates an ongoing expectation for productive progress, and can provide critical brainstorming or even expertise when needed. As for me, a coach or a mentor is the best choice for an accountability partner. Although a peer or a friend can absolutely help you see things you may not see, ongoing accountability is best provided by someone to whom you agree to be truly accountable. When that’s the nature of the relationship, the best results occur.
Earlier, I discussed Dr. Gail Matthews’s research that individuals with written goals were 39.5 percent more likely to succeed. But there’s more to the story. Individuals who wrote their goals and sent progress reports to friends were 76.7 percent more likely to achieve them. As effective as writing down your goals can be, simply sharing your progress toward your goals with someone regularly even just a friend, makes you almost twice as effective.
Accountability works.
Ericsson’s research on expert performance confirms the same relationship between elite performance and coaching. He observed that “the single most important difference between these amateurs and the three groups of elite performers is that the future elite performers seek out teachers and coaches and engage in supervised training, whereas the amateurs rarely engage in similar types of practice.”
An accountability partner will positively impact your productivity. They’ll keep you honest and on track. Just knowing they are waiting for your next progress report can spur you to better results. Ideally, a coach can “coach” you on how to maximize your performance over time. This is how the very best become the very best.
Coaching will help you with all three commitments to your ONE Thing. On the path to mastery, on
the journey from “E” to “P,” and in living the accountability cycle, a coach is invaluable. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find elite achievers who don’t have coaches helping them in key areas of their life.
It’s never too soon or too late to get a coach. Commit to achieving extraordinary results and you’ll find a coach gives you the best chance possible.
BIG IDEAS
Commit to be your best. Extraordinary results happen only when you give the best you have to become the best you can be at your most important work. This is, in essence, the path to mastery—and because mastery takes time, it takes a commitment to achieve it.
Be purposeful about your ONE Thing. Move from “E” to “P.” Go on a quest for the models and systems that can take you the farthest. Don’t just settle for what comes naturally—be open to new thinking, new skills, and new relationships. If the path of mastery is a commitment to be your best, being purposeful is a commitment to adopt the best possible approach.
Take ownership of your outcomes. If extraordinary results are what you want, being a victim won’t work. Change occurs only when you’re accountable. So stay out of the passenger seat and always choose the driver’s side.
Find a coach. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who achieves extraordinary results without one.
Remember, we’re not talking about ordinary results— extraordinary is what we’re after. That kind of productivity eludes most, but it doesn’t have to. When you time block your most important priority, protect your time block, and then work your time block as effectively as possible, you’ll be as productive as you can be. You’ll be living the power of The ONE Thing.