EnTrends

Personal Mastery

By Kevin Eikenberry

I read a phrase in an article a few months ago. The article has been in my "Current File" ever since. I keep coming back to
the phrase, and today I decided to write about it.

"Pride in Mastery". That's the phrase. The article, titled "How to Prevent Professional Obsolescence" mentions this phrase
in the context of our work ethic.

I grew up on a farm, and so I know what it is like to work hard. And what I know about work ethic comes from my
kidhood experiences and observing those around me. One memorable moment in my life was in the middle of a field doing
a very hot job on a very hot day. My Dad said, "Kevin this is why I'm glad you are in college. You won't ever have to work
with your back - you can work with your brain instead." My Dad was right

- I had a choice. But how does this relate to pride in mastery? I think the connection is clear. It doesn't matter whether the
work we do is with our backs or our brains -the key is to have pride in our work. My Dad had (and has!) pride in his
work, and I do too. All of this commentary is pretty common - have pride in your work, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the words
from Richard Koonce take it one step farther, pride in mastery.

Mastery may take pride to a new level for you. It is a challenge that requires learning, commitment and responsibility. Let's
think about each of those briefly.

Learning

The world is changing fast - and so is your work. The level of change in information, technique, practice, and application is
awesome. Dedicate yourself to learning - not to just keep pace - but move ahead of the crowd. Pride means keeping pace
- pride in mastery means getting ahead of the curve. Find ways to get the information, knowledge, and skills you need to
move towards mastery.

Commitment

Moving towards mastery will require commitment! Ask yourself how much you value pride in mastery. Your commitment
comes from the answer to that question. If the value isn't high enough, this isn't a road to travel.

Responsibility

Pride in mastery requires responsibility too. Responsibility to yourself. Responsibility to those around you to inform them of
how your decision affects your priorities. Responsibility to others to share your knowledge, skills and expertise with them
(remember the teacher learns more than the student.)

Pride in Mastery. It's a phrase that's been sticking with me for several months. Regardless of the decisions that reflecting on
this phrase lead you to, I hope the phrase does stick with you for awhile too.

reserved.

Kevin Eikenberry <mailto:kevin@discian.com> is a speaker, trainer, author, and President of the Discian Group (
http://discian.com ) - a learning consulting company. He authors a monthly article on learning from life's events called
Vantagepoints. If you liked this article, you can read more or subscribe for free at http://discian.com/vp.htm .