Not everyone will get to mastery. And that's okay.

The term "mastery" or become a "master" of X skill is being thrown around too lightly in recent years.

Seems like everyone who writes marketing copy about an online course or other resource like it enjoys using the term a lot.

For most it's not their fault. I agree that it sounds appealing for the user that's reading it.

It conjures images of you not knowing the "secrets" of certain area. And then when you get access to the product, the curtain will be opened, the secrets revealed, and you'll get to use your newfound powers to accomplish something incredible.

But as it happens more often than not, the marketing tells you one thing, and the reality is a completely different one.

Real "mastery" isn't achieved by buying an info product and applying the information contained.

It isn't achieved by putting a ton of hours of constant repetition as the "10.000-hour myth" popularized by Malcolm Gladwell will lead you to believe.

I won't go into detail about how Anders Ericsson already debunked that myth and the kind of practice one really needs. As I already written about many times before.

Suffice it to say that truly becoming a "master" at something requires a level of work, persistence, and dedication that the great majority won't put in.

And that's fine. You don't need to be a "master" at a certain skill/area to make something meaningful with your life.

You can be incredibly good at many areas and use those skills to build useful and valuable pieces of work that others can benefit from.

You can make a great career weaving in different skills that give you a better result than the sum of its parts.

In other words, you might never be a master at something. And that's totally fine.