In a post on LinkedIn, communications teacher and expert Vinh Giang asserted that people no longer seek mastery. Instead, they seek easy.
That concept admittedly isn’t all that positive. But he points out that, because taking the easy route is the norm, those who are willing to work hard have the opportunity to stand out. Becoming a master doesn’t guarantee success, as external factors beyond a person’s control still can hold them back. But it’s a strategy that has the potential to at least improve the odds of getting noticed.
It would be simple to explain Giang’s conclusion about how most people take the easy route — which I believe is accurate — within the well-researched idea that human beings are biologically hardwired toward shortcuts and pleasure. Based on my own experience, however, I think it’s more complicated.
Becoming a master requires persistence (and that’s hard!)
To become a master by nature requires a certain level of persistence. We have to keep showing up to practice and learn every single day.
In a previous paid access post, however, I noted how persistence is actually incredibly difficult. We’re biologically driven to want some novelty, yet persistence often calls us to repetition and predictability. To endure that repetition and predictability can be agonizing. If you do not have a sense of who you are and why the mastery matters, and if you do not have proper social support, the odds of failure elevate.
A sense of values (why) and support is crucial
Perhaps a bit ironically, part of the reason I have been able to persist is that I grew up with so little. There was always a sense that to master something would translate to freedom because of that. But I also valued mastery because my crappy environment so blatantly showed me why beautiful things are necessary. Beauty counteracts the oppression of the world. If we are to fight the world, we must accept the mastery creating beauty requires. Because I know what the crappy environment feels like and don’t want others to experience it, I’m willing to try to master my craft to create the beauty others need. That’s my why.
But on a social level, many of us get the message that all that matters is obtaining security. We feel like numbers marching in a row as companies downsize, increase workloads, and play politics. Do we really matter? Are we safe? What are we good at? Our communities are broken. Programs don’t help where they should. Many of us don’t even have sufficient housing or have to choose between groceries and medications. The sense of direction and stability that could help us feel like it’s safe to pursue mastery isn’t there. Instead, all we have is fear and hopelessness.
And how do we cope with that?
By snapping up what’s easy for a quick, instant-gratification dopamine hit.
Being unwilling to work hard and needing more hope, direction, self-awareness, and confidence are different things.
What will YOU master?
Today I suggest that all of us — including you — can become masters. We simply need to be grounded and secure in our values, which serve as mastery motivators. We need, too, to have people to lean on when the monotony and grind start to reach the limits of tolerance, and who can remind us of the values we aim to defend.
Figure out who you are. Find your people. From there, mastery is yours to take.