Mastery is Where you Find It.

Mastery is a funny thing. My daughter, Madeleine, is a senior in high school. Her Ocean Sciences Bowl team just won the Los Angeles Regional competition and they are now headed to Galveston for Nationals in May.

She, and her very skilled teammates have been studying for 3 or 4 years to get to this place. As a freshman, Madeleine began studying biology facts in preparation for this eventuality. She worked so hard, and became so proficient, she entered AP Biology in the second semester of 9th grade. She scored a perfect 5 on her AP exam.

I like to say she has really good genes. Maybe so, but the real key to her young success is her commitment, discipline and drive. She takes action and is relentless. Her goal is to become Valedictorian of her class. Unfortunately for her, (and fortunately for the rest of us), there are another dozen or so kids in contention for the honor.

The way I see it, there are lots of kids with smarts, talent and abilities. But remarkably few with the drive, discipline and commitment that these 4 kids have. If more of us only knew what Madeleine and her friends seem to already have figured out, the more we, as a species, would achieve.

This mastery that these young people are displaying doesn’t only apply to academics. It applies to EVERYTHING. Art, relationships, work, play, life. They have already experienced the power of becoming a master. And they are very familiar with the commitment, focus and discipline that it takes to achieve it.

They would probably even say “what mastery?” if you asked them, because they know how much more they have available to them… how much more there is to learn.

That’s mastery.