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Living
Boldly® e-Zine Archives
Moving
towards Mastery
November 11, 2003
Tomorrow, I am on my way to Denver to attend the annual ICF
conference. This is an event I look forward to every year, for many reasons. I
get to reconnect with many dear friends and coaching colleagues from all over
the world. I get to meet new people and exchange ideas with them (there will be
over 1,200 attendees this year!). And I get to sit in on some really
interesting presentations and expand my expertise as a coach. It's both fun and
exhausting, and always well worth the trip!
Each year before I go, I
take some time and reflect on my intentions for the conference -- in other
words, I decide in advance what I would like to get out of being there, so that
I can stay focused and not scatter my energies. This year, my "theme" for the
week is going to be Mastery.
Defining Mastery
What is Mastery, anyway? And what is a true Master? The
American Heritage
Dictionary (4th ed.) has about two dozen different definitions for
"master", many of which are negative and centered on control and domination
over others. As you read through the list, however, some more positive meanings
surface. As a noun: "one whose teachings are accepted by followers", "an artist
or performer of great and exemplary skill", "an expert". As an adjective:
"highly skilled or proficient". As a verb: "to overcome or defeat". And this
same dictionary defines Mastery as: "possession of consummate skill".
So, picking the best images from the above definitions, I would say that
Mastery is "a state of being in which one serves as a teacher and guide,
embracing and displaying exemplary skill and proficiency in some area of
expertise, and helping others to achieve their own level of mastery". In other
words, a true Master is the one who uses their own gifts and talents to help
others to become Masters!
Moving towards Mastery in YOUR
life
Are you focused on Mastery in your own life? I'm not
simply talking about mastering a set of skills that will help you become more
employable, although that is certainly worthwhile doing; I'm talking about LIFE
Mastery. It's often been said that Life is a journey -- but is there a
destination? Perhaps the destination is Mastery -- overcoming our fears,
defeating our inner gremlins, honing our individual life skills, becoming more
of who we want to be, and finding the right teachers who can support you and
help you find your way.
What fears are holding you back from achieving
a big dream? What if you focused on gaining mastery over those fears so that
they don't get in your way anymore?
What areas of your life need to be
balanced, polished, or completely changed? If you're tolerating a lot and
putting up with a lot, wouldn't it help you move toward mastery if you would
make it a priority to tame your gremlins?
Where do you need to reach
out to others and help them to achieve mastery in some area of their own lives?
Extending a hand to another, to help boost them to a higher level of
achievement and accomplishment, to help them master their own challenges, is a
rewarding way to move toward mastery yourself.
Imagine what your life
could be like, if you were able to stop focusing purely on survival, and
instead raised the bar to focus on creating mastery in your life. What would
you do differently? Would you be taking better care of yourself? Would you be
more choosy about who you associate with - instead of spending time with people
who use you, you could instead choose to be with people who support you and
challenge you to want more for yourself.
If mastery were the
objective, rather than survival, would that change how you look at your life
and how you make choices? Think about that for a few moments. How many of your
choices are motivated by fear? What if your choices were motivated by "how can
I grow towards mastery and which choice will help move me closer to mastery?" I
think you will find, if you make this important shift in perspective, many new
and wonderful things will open up in your life. Your energy will be more
positive; your thinking more clear and focused.
Do we ever really get
there?
Do we ever actually ACHIEVE mastery? In some areas, we
probably can and do. In other areas, perhaps we never quite get there. But
since life IS all about the journey, then the value in the journey towards
mastery is not whether or not we actually GET there. It's what we got to see,
be, and do along the way.
For me, I am going to the conference
tomorrow with Mastery as the destination I can see on my horizon; but I'm
setting out on the journey with an open heart and mind, ready to embrace
whatever shows up en route, and knowing that whatever happens, it will be
exactly what I needed most this week.
Mastery in Action
Do a little Life Mastery Review. In each of the following areas of your life,
take a look at where you are and what your satisfaction level is, on a scale of
1-10 (10 being the most satisfied).
-- Career or Business
--
Family & Friends
-- Love & Sex
-- Health
--
Spirituality
-- Fun & Adventure
-- Money & Abundance
--
Personal Growth & Contribution
For the areas where you rated
yourself the lowest (below a 6 or 7) take a look at what is happening in your
life and how you are approaching solving those problems that are dragging down
your score. Are you focused on just getting by and surviving? What if you were
to shift your focus from "how am I going to fix this, how I am going to
survive?" to "how can I focus on mastering what I need to know/be/do in this
area?"
Example: let's say your money & abundance score is a 3 --
you're struggling financially or you have issues with fears of not having
enough money (even wealthy people sometimes have FEARS of not having "enough"
even though they actually have more than "enough"). If your current thought
processes are focused on your fears about your money, then chances are good
that you will stay stuck right where you are and nothing much will improve,
despite your best efforts. But if you were to SHIFT your thinking and focus on
"how can I achieve mastery over my fears about money and abundance?" - then you
are opening yourself up to discovering some creative solutions. You might
decide to take a class on money and abundance. You might decide to pick up any
number of great books on abundance, from authors such as Suze Orman or Robert
Kiyosaki for instance. When you put your focus and energy on what you WANT
(achieving abundance and an abundant mind-set) rather than on what you do NOT
want (I'm afraid I'll never have enough), you will get different results.
In the areas where you scored yourself a 6 or better, this means that
mastery is in sight... so what do you need to do to bring it up to a true
10?
Mastery thinking will help you get very different (and much
better) results than you will get when you only focus on your fears, problems
and inner gremlins. Change how you're thinking and acting, and change how you
talk to yourself about your challenges in life, so that you focus on Life
Mastery, and then watch what new and amazing things start showing up in your
life!
For permission to reprint this article,
please contact me.
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