Mastery vs Mediocrity

Good morning Living Goddesses,

As you know I love to share, so I thought I would share this piece again written by Stewart Emery. It is one of my all time favorites, which I heard for the first time back in 1991. His words resonated with me then and still do today. So, so true…

Mastery in our careers (and in our lives) requires that we constantly produce results beyond and out of the ordinary. Mastery is a product of consistently going beyond our limits. For most people, it starts with technical excellence in a chosen field and a commitment to that excellence. If you’re willing to commit yourself to excellence, to surround yourself with things that represent this excellence, your life will change.

It’s remarkable how much mediocrity we live with, surrounding ourselves with daily reminders that average is somehow acceptable. In fact, our world suffers from terminal normality. Take a moment to assess all the things around you that promote you being “average.” These are the things that prevent you from going beyond the limits that you have randomly set for yourself.

The first step to mastery is the removal of everything in your environment that represents mediocrity, and one way to attain that objective is to surround yourself with people who ask more of you than you would ordinarily give of yourself.

Didn’t your parents and some of your best teachers and coaches do exactly that? Another step on the path to mastery is the removal of resentment toward the masters. Develop compassion for yourself so that you can be in the presence of a master and grow from the experience. Rather than comparing yourself to (and resenting) people who have mastery, remain open and receptive. Let the experience be like the planting of a seed within you that, with nourishment, will grow into your own individual mastery.

You see, we are all-ordinary. But rather than condemning one’s self for their “ordinariness,” a master will embrace that ordinariness as a foundation for building the extraordinary. Rather than relying on their ordinariness as an excuse for inactivity, they will use it instead as a vehicle for correcting themselves. Its necessary to be able to correct yourself without invalidating or condemning yourself and others ­ It is best to use the results of the correction process to improve upon other aspects of your life.

Correction is essential to power and mastery.

Mastery by Stewart Emery