No matter what skill you seek to improve, you will experience hardships, and you will probably feel discouraged when those hardships pop up. If your love for your goal doesn’t exceed your level of discouragement at that time, there’s a good chance you won’t muster the motivation to work past that point.
Expecting something to be easy is the worst expectation you can ever hold. When things are more difficult than you were planning on, you’re more likely to find yourself frustrated and tempted to quit. To minimize the frustration you’ll feel along the way, hope for the best but expect the worst.
Some distractions are obvious. For example, spending time online, watching television, or playing video games is fine in moderation since it can help you relax and recharge, but doing too much of it too often can cause you to waste time you should be spending on the pursuit of your goals. Less obvious distractions include other goals. You can become great at multiple things, but you should only focus on one thing at a time. Trying to pursue too much at once will limit the amount of time and practice you can devote to any one thing, thereby making it more difficult to grow in any one skill.
A large support group isn’t necessarily better than a small support group made of dedicated, loyal individuals. Mentors and coaches can guide you along the right path. Cheerleaders can support you as you struggle to reach your goals. Even rivals can help motivate you to push through your struggles, but friendly rivals who can value you as a competitor are usually better than hostile ones.
Observing the way someone else does things can allow you to remove yourself from the process and take a more objective look at things. Don’t be afraid to confront beliefs you currently have or consider new ideas. Your way might still be better when all is said and done, but even if that ends up being the case, you will at least be able to reinforce and strengthen your previous ideas.
Learning how to adapt is, in itself, a skill worth becoming great at. Life rarely goes according to plan, and even if you become great at the perfect cookie-cutter way of doing something, you may eventually need to expand beyond that mold when it no longer serves your purposes.
Being honest with others about your own shortcomings and imperfections can be a very vulnerable sensation, so many people choose to avoid it on instinct. Honesty and vulnerability are essential components of open-mindedness, however, and it takes an open mind to see the full range of possibilities and pursue the best option.
What most people mistake as “raw talent” is actually just early aptitude. It is possible for someone to have a natural aptitude toward something from a young age, but without hard work, that aptitude cannot be successfully developed into any great talent.
The path the greatness needs to contain multiple mile markers. Instead of focusing on one overall goal, you need to set small goals for you to focus on in the short-term. Completing each small goal should progress you one step closer to your overall goal. For example, if you want to become a great guitar player, an early goal might be to memorize the chords. After you accomplish that goal, your next one might be to play a simple song. After the simple song, aim for a more difficult song, and an even more difficult one after that.
Research your role models’ methods. Read everything you can about the difficulties they overcame, the chances they took, and the effort they put into things. Use both primary and secondary sources. Read and listen to your role models’ direct words, then read and listen to the words that others have spoken or written about those same role models.
The idea is to know exactly what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. If you do something right, you’ll need to know how to duplicate that correct step in the future. If you do something wrong, you’ll need to figure out how to avoid the incorrect step later on.
Leave your emotions out of it. When someone critiques you, understand that the critique is a helpful tool. It doesn’t make you any less valuable or any less likely to achieve your goals. At the same time, you also need to make sure that the people you’re getting critiques from are worthwhile critics. Even the most well-intentioned person can be a lousy critic if he or she doesn’t have the knowledge to back up the critique. Similarly, the most knowledgeable person can also be a terrible critic if he or she only wants to insult you instead of helping you improve.
When considering professional fields, the most accomplished people in their fields generally need to dedicate at least ten years of hard work before they develop great enough skills to reach their level of success.
Hard work alone isn’t enough. Your method of practice needs to be deliberate and stimulating. Simply repeating the same action over and over again won’t yield results, so you’ll need to practice with the goal of improvement on your mind. Do this by regularly tackling forms of practice that are increasingly more challenging.
If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t be able to move forward. If you aren’t able to move forward, you won’t be able to do the things you need to do to become great.
