Mastery; An Illusion or Tangibly Attainable?

The word mastery seems to be the latest buzz word to get kicked to the front and center of the personal achievement noise.    As mastery becomes the new buzz word, it will likely get a good wearing out over the coming months.  I don’t know if that is a good thing or not.  It will depend on where the definition of mastery eventually settles.  Personally, I think the word is being frequently overused and in the wrong way.  With all of the competition in the personal performance guru field, true mastery stands a chance of getting completely lost in the noise.

How many people ever reach complete mastery in a given field where there is competition?  There can be only one number one.  And, for how long can they hold that?  Just because you can best all of your contemporaries at a given point of time, is that true mastery? Is mastery something someone can achieve and then hang on to, or is it soon lost through human frailties?

Mastery for me becomes more of a personal challenge that can be summed up in reaching a level of function that can be maintained for a period of time.  I feel that mastery is not necessarily the best performance competition wise, but it is consistent performance at a standard of expectation that efficiently, and consistently, reaps a desired outcome. 

This whole concept reminds me of two used car dealers that I knew some years back.  Danny was the small lot dealer, with slow and steady sales to mostly repeat customers.  He had built his clientele up over the years, with his reputation of quality, value, and stand behind the product service.  His sales weren’t flashy or high pressured, and neither were the cars he sold.   

Danny knew his customers personally and worked to meet their needs.  He didn’t want to put a customer in a purchasing position that could hurt or strain them financially or otherwise.  He knew his customer base and stocked his lot to their tastes, needs, and financial abilities.

The other car dealer, Mike, had a high traffic location, flashy cars, flashy sales, and flashy sales people.  Almost every sale was a first time buyer.  Each sale was an obvious effort in immediate gratification for the sales people, as well as the way it was pushed to the customer.  No one on that lot ever thought of selling to their customers again in a few years.   They frequently “over sold” customers with too much car, and too much debt. 

For a while this was a high volume lot, and Mike was the high flying new kid on the block, that was showing everyone how the car business worked.  Mike even picked up a few of Danny’s old customers.  Then, an economic downturn came, as is the normal course of all economies.  Soon, Mike’s staff was down to himself and one salesman who talked of leaving for Florida to hunt for a better sales market. 

As the economy worsened, Danny and the one guy that had worked with him for years, just trimmed back their stock selection a little and kept on with almost business as usual.  Some days they spent the entire day, playing checkers in the sales office without a single visitor to the lot, but consistently, they sold a few cars every month, and kept the doors open.  

“ We’ve been here before”, Danny told me, “you expect dips in the economy like this and stay prepared for it.  Now more than ever, people are looking for value in a car, not just show, and that’s what we sell.  We’ll be fine.”  And, they were.

I think you can see the difference.  While Mike exploded on the car sales scene, out selling everyone for a brief period, Danny and company had formed a niche used car market, for both good, and bad, economies.  Even though for a while Mike was number one in sales and profits, Danny was the true master.  I never knew Danny to be number one in sales, except maybe during a really deep recession, and those numbers weren’t huge.  However Danny and his sidekick consistently delivered the goods, operating at a good profit, year in and year out.  Hot shots came and went, but Danny retired a wealthy man.  That is mastery.

Now, you can go back to those performance gurus and read more about mastery.  It actually has a down to earth meaning.  Unique excellence is another term for another day, but mastery for today, is as attainable as a bad habit, or a good one.

Surround yourself with people who love you, work that you love, and a cause that you believe in.

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