There are many lessons that I take from the life example of Muhammad Ali.
– Follow Your Core InnerVision
– Persistence Through Adversity
but today, Let’s talk about “Mastering Your Craft”
ARE YOUR DREAMS BIG ENOUGH TO INSPIRE YOU
TO ACTION?
I believe that many of us are playing too small in life… as though we’re promised some other opportunity to do this life over.
You may hear yourself and others use these expressions…
“When such-and-such falls into place, then I’ll pursue my dream”
Today … I submit to you … that it is far better, and the “odds” actually favor us,
Three stages of growth on the path to MASTERY
If you are a playwrite, author, poet, spoken word artist…
If you are a carpenter, electrician, plumber, or other skilled craftsman…
If you are an inventor, scientist…
If you are a public speaker, community activist, motivational change-agent…
If you are a physician, educator, lawyer, sales/marketer, or in other professional sevices …
Then, we must apply “daily disciplines” to LEARN, SHARPEN, and REFINE the SKILLS of OUR CRAFT.
There are three seperate areas of growth that are required
to become a CHAMPION
(3) To apply the skill in a variety of scenarios, so that you can REFINE it … and achieve “mastery”
I doesn’t matter, whether you are a skate boarder, a brain surgeon, or a home-schooler.
Think deeply, about each area of the 3 growth areas described above, and apply daily disciplines in your particular “craft”… on your path to MASTERY.
(1) Continually seek to LEARN A NEW SKILL or METHODOLOGY in your craft.
The AMAZING thing to note, in this photo of Muhammad Ali,
is the “angle of approach”.
Ali has just left his right foot … has his weight on his left foot … but is body is “twisted-to-the-right” in preparation to release his right hand.
You will see the brilliance of LEARNING A NEW SKILL or METHODLOGY !
What new method of approach can you apply to each area of the “craft” that you practice?
(2) Practice and REPETITION to sharpen your skills
We’ve got to put in the “focused practice” … every day … for a set amount of time …
to become a CHAMPION!!!
It’s not just “going-through-the-motions. It’s PRACTICE on a daily basis … Practice … that is “AS FOCUSED” as if your life depended on the outcome.
(3) Refine Your Skills
How we practice, must become elevated far above “daily routine” or meer “muscle-memory”. We must become so “fluid” and “fluent” in our practice of skills, that they become an extension of our very LIFE.
Notice how Ali keeps perfect time and synchonicity on the speed-bag …
while looking at the camera.
The “bag” has become “ONE” … with Ali .
He is no longer “hitting it” … the bag is “following” his hand !!!
BECOME A CHAMPION
We must seek to go beyond “just-the-motions” in the pursuit of excellence in our chosen craft.
– put in the Daily PRACTICE AND REPETITION necessary to SHARPEN that skill.
– apply the skill in a variety of scenarios, so that you can REFINE it