Experience Alone Won’t Make You a Pro — You Need This
An insight from a near miss on the road.
These days I almost got hit by a driver who ignored the STOP sign.
After cursing him and his mother, as any conscious citizen would do, I thought to myself: “F*ck, this guy is like 50 years old and still doesn’t know how to drive? What the hell?”
Decades, man, decades of experience and yet he failed to stop at the STOP sign!
What did he miss that prevented him from becoming a decent driver after so many years of practice?
The answer is attention. He missed attention.
Why attention makes all the difference
Say you wanna become a great writer.
Excited, you write a piece titled “Bricks and Flowers”, publish it and… Crickets. Disappointed, you write another one, “My Life is Good”. Again, crickets. Infuriated, you publish a third one, “How to Become Rich”. The return? Nothing. Rien. Nada.
Then, in an act of utter hopelessness, you write your farewell article, titled “I’m Giving Up on Writing — and Why You Should *NOT* Do the Same” and boom! The post goes viral.
What happened? Why was this last piece a wondrous success while the other three flopped?
Well, to answer those questions you need attention.
You have to be aware
Observe what’s effective and what’s not. Then, double down on what’s yielding positive results and eliminate what isn’t. Keep doing that for a long time, and you’ll become pretty good at any skill — a pro, in practical terms.
However —
If you don’t pay attention, mediocrity is your destiny.
Take that driver, the one who almost killed me. I bet he’s already made that same mistake (ignoring the STOP sign) uncountable times. Heck, he may even have gotten involved in a couple of accidents to this day.
Yet he continues to make the same stupid mistake.
In contrast, an attentive driver is a completely different beast. By thinking “Damn, I almost hit that car… What did I do wrong? Oh, I should have stopped at the STOP sign! I’ll be more careful from now on.” he’ll get better and better, day after day.
See? It’s simple, just a matter of paying attention.
Fine, but what if I can’t see my own mistakes? What if I can’t find out what I’m doing wrong? — you may ask.
Well, I’m glad you asked.
Many times we need others to point out our mistakes
Back at the writing example, let’s compare the headlines:
- Bricks and Flowers — C’mon, are you serious?
- My Life is Good — OK, good for you, but what about the readers?
- How to Become Rich — so cliché that readers will just make a mental eye roll and move on.
- I’m Giving Up on Writing — and Why You Should *NOT* Do the Same — There!
Can you hear it? The message from the world is clear about what works and what doesn’t.
- Message: “The first three articles got barely any views and the last one went viral”.
- Translation: “The first three are bad and the last is great”.
And not “The first three are great, it’s readers who are stupid to not recognize your genius”.
Once you get the message right, it’s time to ask why. Why did the farewell post perform so well?
Again, pay attention. Look at the headline carefully. Perceive how it is infused with emotion and irresistibly intriguing (why should I NOT do the same, for Christ’s sake?). It is so good people will feel stupid not clicking.
Now, look at the other three. See?
A coach is not a bad idea
Before you throw a stone at me, let me tell you I’m talking about all types of coaches. From fishing to baseball, from parenting to writing, from cooking to pottery.
A coach is basically somebody who pays close attention to what you’re doing and offers professional feedback so that you can refine your skills in a way you wouldn’t be capable of by yourself. There is even a fancy name for this process: deliberate practice.
This explains why legends like Tiger Woods still train with their coaches. Woods can’t see a minuscule mistake while swinging his golf club, but his coach can.
So, if Tiger Woods benefits from hiring a coach, why wouldn’t you?
Recap
A decade honing a skill can turn you into a pro, provided you pay attention to what’s working and what’s not.
Don’t pay attention, however, and you’ll just repeat the first year ten times. You’ll become competent at making the same mistakes.
So, next time you see someone boasting about his huge experience in a field, pause and reassess. That guy can be a true master or merely an “experienced novice”, who still ignores STOP signs.
