Two weeks ago I was
part of an interview panel with my school leader and came upon this magic key
which I now believe will take people from good to great. The magic key to
greatest is doing something counterintuitive and pursuing the “challenging part”
of my work.
Most people don’t
want to do that. They want to focus on the easy (and soft) part of their work.
But I realized that it helps more to focus on the hard part. To find out what
is hard and do more of it. Not less.
Most of us avoid
what is hard. Unless there is true commitment to being great – then it changes.
Then we seek what is hard!
Most of us do
the opposite. We want to know our strengths so that we then relax in them. Hide
out in them. Just look at those of us who have the same roles and responsibilities
in the school doing the same tasks for many years. That is why the saying is true
that what we are good at is exactly what is keeping us from being great.
Many have
written about the subject of mastery, and in his book ‘Drive’ author Daniel H.
Pink asserts that mastery is a pain and demands effort, grit and deliberate practice.
My
experience this year in my new leadership role, I myself have worked up sort of a
version of how to master something – How to get great at doing something.
But first,
consider these questions: If you have two students and one enjoys reading books
and one does not, which one will be a fluent reader? Or you have two boys and
one enjoys playing the piano, really enjoy sitting down to play the piano! The
other plays the piano just to earn the certificate. Who will, in later life, be
better at playing the piano? I believe we all know the answers to these
questions.
Hence, I see the
path of mastery is through enjoyment.
And so, how do
we learn to enjoy something we hate to do?
Well, first of
all, decide whether you really want to take it on. You can’t master everything.
You have to choose. Given the nature of our teaching profession, what skills do
we want to master? Would it serve our purpose as teachers to master this?
If the answer is
yes, then proceed on! It is then time to go through the stages of mastery,
which involves fear, hate, starting to like and finally love.
Fear is when I
am afraid and scared to try it. Let’s say I am given a new role which is way
outside my comfort zone. First, I am afraid as learning anything new is potentially
damaging to our self-esteem. It scares us as now we are no longer in control.
Of course, there are some would rather give up than change as this represents
real change. So, stage one is fear.
Stage two is
hate. I hate this! I have tried this new role and I hate the many responsibilities
that come with the role. Hating doing something is step two on the path of
mastery!
Stage three is
neutral. I having been putting up with this for some time now, I am okay with
this. I can take it or leave it.
Stage four is starting
to like it. I am starting to like my new role with its responsibilities!
Stage five is love.
I love taking on my new role. When I am taking on this role, I am absolutely unaware
of the passage of time.
Five stages,
each one feeling much better than the one before. So, how would we need to do
to progress through these stages? Well, I found that it is by doing the “hard
part”. The more I work on it, the more I like it. The more I like it, the more
I do it – either or is true, and it does not matter which is first.
But any of the
stages can be interrupted by our mindset. Consider if in stage one, and I am
feeling fear and might just say to myself that I am too scared to even try
taking on the new role. Or if I am stage two where I hate taking on the many responsibilities
and just exit. Or at stage three, having put up with this role for some time
now, I am now indifferent to it!
Hence, to truly master
something, it is important not only to know what stage we are progressing but
also not to freeze at any stage by negative mindset. Mastery is a mindset which
is best achieved with continuous effort, grit and deliberate practice moving
from good to great.
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