join the dots

Who doesn’t remember or know of a master craftsman - not le Faberge of the egg- making variety- but masters of less esoteric craft ? I refer to those such as an electrician who does a perfect job every time,  a spelling-bee contestant, an aunt whose rasam is akin to ambrosia, a neighbour who speaks fluent mandarin, a gran who could crochet a bridal sheet without referring to a pattern book, a friend who could parallel park in the most impossible of slots. These are examples of expertise and micromastery  that are within reach for most of us but do we give them the importance they deserve?

Conventionally, “success in life” is defined by money, status and by others’ estimation of us. We are coaxed into doing the same task (school curriculum, work profile) over and over again- which may neither make us successful nor happy. This sort of success tends to glaringly elude (spare?) most of humanity which often leads to negative feelings about ourselves and our mundane lives. To me that’s putting all your self-worth eggs in one risky basket.

But a ‘life of success’ is truly possible for nearly all.  When we nurture small and specific pockets of skill and knowledge (that may or may not feed our core  interests) we develop a system of acquiring expertise and of feeling accomplished.  we could choose any skill that interests us, stirs our curiosity- be it knotting a tie – making delicious pickle – writing haiku – doing a motorcycle wheelie – identifying constellations – solving math theorems – or the Sunday crossword – doing card tricks- reading Heidegger- growing  corn – repairing old watches – learning the foxtrot – baking bread - mixing a cocktail - so long as we experience the joy of learning, of improving and hopefully of mastery. Psychologist Csikszentmihalyi talks of being in the flow – where we are so engrossed in what we are doing that we do not notice the passage of time. If these acts of micromastery can get us into our flow – we can change our otherwise monotonous existence into live

Each pocket of excellence may (or may not) influence your next.  (Steve Jobs’ love of calligraphy, for instance, is said to have influenced his development of beautiful typography in the Mac). But the way we come to viewing the process of learning a skill, craft – will be essentially the same. We become fearless learners and our curiosity of new things is awakened. It is simply important to start- to learn- to find ways and means to improve- and to master a skill. When we join our own dots of micromastery,  a beautiful life of many accomplishments and successes will emerge.

So kill the TV and start your journey to being a master.