Agenda
Becoming an expert is hard, very hard. Anyone who takes a class, reads a book, or watches a Youtube video and claims to be an expert is mistaken. It takes years of study, practice, and commitment to become truly expert in any field.
Some disciplines take longer than others to master, but the path is neither quick nor easy. There are no shortcuts. The route to mastery may seem gentle or easy at first, but eventually the slope steepens and the lighting dims. The path is fraught with pain, accidents, and setbacks. And, to be sure, the route is flanked by skeptics, who mock from every high hill. Even great experts can feel dismissed or unwanted.
The late Marilyn Monroe, an expert actress and singer, said shortly before her untimely death, "Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection."
The process of gaining expertise is so painful, in fact, that many of the most capable people are filtered out because they lack the means or the dedication required. When time is short, energy is low, or people mock, it can be tempting to let go of the goal, wander off the path, and settle for mediocrity.
So why do it? Why commit thousands of hours and endless energy developing an expertise that might never be fully utilized or appreciated? Why become a master at anything? Maybe good enough is good enough.
Many years ago, there was a physics student who attended a renowned university. The student’s father was the Dean of the Physics Department at the same university. At the end of a calculus class, the son visited his father's office in search of assistance. The father patiently explained a complex mathematical concept to his son and asked, "Didn't your professor cover this idea in your class earlier in the semester?"
"Yes, Dad, it was covered."
"And you have not mastered this idea since then?" the father responded.
"No Dad, I have not mastered this concept."
The father looked his son squarely in the eye and asked, "When you walk across campus, when you put your head on your pillow at night, when you eat breakfast in the morning, when you don't have anything else to think about, don't you think about calculus?"
The son paused, knowing his answer would disappoint his physics-loving father. "Umm, No Dad, I don't."
"Well then you need to find another major. Until you find a subject that captures your curiosity and consumes your interest, you will not master that subject. Now go, discover what you love, and master what you discover."
Eventually, the son received a PhD in Business.
Some people pursue expertise as a hobby, some as an obsession, and still others pursue a specific opportunity. Many people become experts because they can earn more money than non-experts. Some people use expertise as a path to power, influence, or control. Still others crave attention, notoriety, or fame.
Some experts identify their pursuit as the very purpose of their existence. To them, being an expert is more than the thing they were meant to do—it is the thing that defines who they are. Regardless of what motivates you in your pursuit of mastery, your motives will eventually reveal themselves to the people around you. You cannot permanently hide your true motivations.
It was Sigmund Freud who said, "No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore." Your influence as an expert will flourish when you know the true reason for your pursuit. If your expertise is all about your power, your influence, or your control, then your accomplishments will benefit only you. But if your highest priority is to lift and help others, then your accomplishments will be multiplied and accentuated. When asked, experts express a variety of motives for their pursuits.
Many professionals feel compelled to master their subject. They are determined to become the top of their field. The impulse is wired into their nature.
In 1943, Dr. Abraham Maslow explained this compulsion, at least in part, in his paper, "A Theory of Human Motivation." In the paper Maslow said all people have a hierarchy of needs. At the base he said we have physiological needs, such as air, food, water, shelter, clothing, and sleep. Next we have safety needs which include physical, emotional, and financial well-being. Third are the needs for love and belonging, family, friendship, and intimacy. Fourth, in the hierarchy is our need for esteem. We yearn for ego, status, recognition, importance, and respect.
And finally, at the top Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the need for self-actualization. This is the need to reach one’s full potential, to develop our talents to the best of our ability, to become all that we can become. Put another way, self-actualization is our need to become experts.
Maslow, and many psychologists after him, are not suggesting that becoming an expert is a want or a desire. They call it a need. It is something we pursue by virtue of our existence. Like a person pursuing water to drink or human connections, people pursue expertise because it is wired into their character. We all have it. We don’t all attain it, but we all feel compelled toward expertise in varying degrees.
Maslow put it this way, "What a man can be, he must be."
If Maslow is correct, and he seems to be, most humans feel compelled to expertise instinctively. We are like migratory animals who navigate great distances by instinct. As a species, humans pursue expertise because we are compelled to do so.
The second important motive for developing expertise is compassion and love. Our world is filled with pain, doubt, loneliness, and heartache. There are many things that need to be changed and improved, and many people who need assistance. Yet the world is rarely changed by the ordinary, the good enough, or the commonplace. No, changing the world requires men and women who are experts, people with tremendous capacity, tenacity, strength, and courage. Experts can and should make a profound difference in the world.
Becoming an expert can be one of the most noble of human pursuits because through it you have a greater capacity to serve. Experts can help people in ways that others cannot. Experts can lift, fix, solve, build, and unify where others fail. Experts can serve people in ways that they cannot serve themselves and lift others who are otherwise down. Experts can alleviate pain, restore hope, engender compassion, inspire action, and banish fear. The best experts, the truly inspiring ones, are those who strive first to lift others, even before they lift themselves.
Yes, the path to expertise is hard but it is necessary and valuable. Whatever inspires you to become an expert, be it wealth, fame, power, compulsion, or compassion, allow that reason to work within you and inspire you to advance and continue through the difficulties. The world needs more experts and the world needs better experts. All experts should discover what they love, and master what they discover.
