One question I’m often asked is "What does it take to be a success?" My coaching clients certainly want to know the answer, and the question often comes up when I’m speaking with prospective clients, too.

As you know, there are a hundred different ways to answer this question. You probably have your own thoughts about what it

takes to be successful. You may believe you have to be in the right place at the right time. Or perhaps you think you need to know the right people. Or maybe you feel success is just a matter of luck.

In our coaching practice, we work with high achievers–people who have already achieved some level of success in their lives. I know a lot about this subject. Success and fulfillment (it doesn’t do you any good to be successful if you’re not happy) comes down to one thing: striving for mastery in what you do.

Masters go beyond the basics of the craft or industry they are in. They understand what it takes to be competent, but they also understand there’s a higher level. Masters focus on becoming excellent at their craft. They become excellent salespeople or excellent managers or excellent plumbers or excellent mediators.

Once they’ve achieved excellence, they have a passion to learn more, so they focus on becoming even better. They notice the subtleties and nuances that other people don’t see. More importantly, they begin to create and develop new ideas and strategies because they are that good. They come up with things excellent contributors would not have seen or cared about. They are more than experts. They are masters.

When you strive for mastery, you are engaged in a continual process of constant and never-ending improvement. You focus on learning, growing and expanding who you are and what you do.

There’s a great example of mastery in the sport of golf. Of course, I’m talking about Tiger Woods. Tiger has a deep love and passion for golf. Yet he didn’t just rely on his natural talent. He became a master at golf. Someone who knows the game backwards and forwards. The one who is constantly trying new stuff, experimenting with new techniques and strategies. The one who focused on his gifts and worked on making them even stronger. His mastery is rewarded with millions of dollars per year in prize money, a great lifestyle, and the ability to do what he loves every day.

Our society pays extremely well for mastery. Who is the best basketball player in the NBA? Whether you answered LeBron James or Tim Duncan or someone else, you know they are earning seven-figure salaries doing what they love to do. What about the best in the corporate world? Executives like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Meg Whitman are all masters of business whose efforts are both recognized and rewarded.

In the entertainment world, there are dozens of examples. Whether we focus on musicians (Bono, Faith Hill), television hosts (Oprah, David Letterman), or chefs (Rachel Ray, Paula Dean), these masters are very well-compensated. They succeed because their target markets are drawn to their mastery. Did you catch that? They are attracted to their mastery. That’s what I want for you.

Unfortunately, a lot of competent (or even excellent) people start out striving for mastery, but quit before they get there. They simply aren’t willing to stay in the game long enough to become a master.

What about you? Are you willing to do what it takes to achieve mastery?

———————
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
- Henry David Thoreau