A well defined field: Preconditions and principles for obtaining mastery

Part 1 For the past 9 years I’ve studied what it takes to become a master therapist, and in doing so I’ve discovered a set of universal preconditions and principles for obtaining mastery. I’m going to lay out these preconditions and principles, and show how they relate specifically to the therapy world.

Precondition #1: A well defined field

In order to get good at something you must pick a field with clear goals, and well defined skills to meet those goals. A field with clear goals and well defined skills (piano, swimming, coding, etc.) will have lots of people who’ve gain status because of what they can produce or do. Let’s call these people masters.

Photo by Braden Collum on Unsplash

For instance Usain Bolt is the worlds fastest man because he’s faster than everyone else. He’s a master. It’s pretty straightforward.

This sounds self evident. It isn’t. Very often we confuse defined fields with undefined fields, fields with unclear goals and poorly defined skills (leadership, politics, radiology, ect). In undefined fields most people perform no better than chance. These fields have lots of people who’ve obtained their status because of their charisma, attractiveness, type of medium, and political savvy. Let’s call these people gurus.