What stops us from building expertise in a skill?

One can be good at many things, but great at only a few. A lot of us might tend to agree with this statement, but why? Why can’t you genuinely try to master a lot of things. Which raises a parallel question- why would one try to master a lot of things? But for now, let’s stay focussed on the journey to expertise.

In this post, I’ll try to explain a system to categorise skill level and use that to see why a lot of us are not reaching the level of expertise that is ideal. To make it clear, this post is not an attempt to explain how to develop expertise, but to explain what might be preventing one from reaching there.

A framework for skill level categorisation

In simple terms, being skilled is like being able to deliver great outcomes, which is natural if you have greatness in you, which you can absorb/nurture from the world through practice and reflection. Let’s zoom out to focus on great outcomes and see that they are a function of setting great standards and executing as per the set standards. This helps us give a relatively more objective definition to one’s skill level in an area:

Your skill level, at a point of time, is a function of the level of standards you can set and your ability to execute as per the decided standards.

To get better, one needs to constantly set higher standards while improving the ability to execute as per the new standards. Let’s understand various categorisations of skill level, based on these two dimensions, from a 3x3 matrix:

Taking this matrix as a starting point, and supplementing it with my intuitive understanding, I have given some labels to the segments of this matrix.

Before we proceed, please note that,

1) the dimensions are relative (there’s no formula for assigning a number to your ability to set standards and to execute, it’s relative to the current best in your field),
2) the segments don’t map to a person, but to their relationship with an area of expertise. For example, someone can be an Expert at playing chess but the same person might be a Beginner when it comes to playing cricket. Similarly, one could be an explorer in a lot of areas.
3) the values are subject to changing with time for a person for every skill

Let’s define the labels in more detail:

• Explorer: The ability to execute and set standards is limited. One is merely learning, or has learnt to talk the language but one doesn’t understand the rules.
  
  Reasons that prevent progress:
  Wasting time with other non committed explorers and any such action which reduces your guilt of not making progress (false actions like paying for something)
  
  What to do at this stage:
  Begin doing real stuff, as action is a fast way to learn. Get a plan with deadlines, and someone to review them.
• Beginner: One understands the rules enough to start. But, while applying them they make a lot of mistakes and hence the results are not great. By improving their ability to execute, they can progress into a doer.
  
  Reasons that prevent progress:
  Pretending to be able to execute at higher standards that your current ability to execute, which raises the perceived cost of committing errors.
  
  What to do at this stage:
  Ingredients to improve the ability to execute, 1) Deliberate practice , 2) Action without fear of failure (errors are friends), and 3) Some direct mechanism of quick feedback or coaching
• Doer: One has the ability to put the ideas to action and one also has some understanding of improvement areas.
  
  Reasons that prevent progress:
  Getting stuck in a place where you are seen as the best, or exploring a lot of new stuff without any implementation.
  
  What to do at this stage:
  Inspire yourself to push harder by setting high standards for oneself. Surround oneself with a community of doers who are aspiring to build expertise. Get mentorship from experts (bring out blind spots errors and broaden the scope of possibilities).
• Expert: The understanding of rules and ability to implement them is so deeply ingrained that action looks intuitive and the quality of output is world class.
  
  Reasons that prevent progress:
  Anything that makes you feel that you’re great without constantly challenging you
  
  What to do at this stage:
  Keep loving what you do and keep challenging yourself :)

Beyond these stages, there are legends, that we keep hearing about in various fields, who are in the league of their own. Let’s call them Pioneers, and define it as another level-

• Pioneer: One has successfully changed the game forever by wildly surpassing the previous best.

What’s next

I started this post with a disclaimer that this post will not talk about how to build expertise, as I sincerely believe that there’s no recipe to it.

But, I hope that it will help you understand why you might be stuck. My idea is to help you reflect on your journey and assess yourself. I hope you’ll benefit from using the definitions of skill levels and by regularly reflecting on the following points:

• What are my current levels of setting standards and executing in the concerned areas of skills
• What’s the ideal force that will pull me towards a level above (is it about setting better standards, or about executing better, or both)
• How can I protect and grow my love and sincerity for the concerned skill

Before we go, I’ll ask you one question, which we started this post with - “Why would one try to master a lot of skills?”.
This question intrigues me deeply because I see myself attracted to learning a lot of things. I don’t know the answer to it. Sometimes I feel this is because of some fear, sometimes I see this as lack of sincerity, and other times, I feel that it simply is my nature. In case you have any thoughts or if you can point me to some resources, please share in comments.

Cheers!