This is my son, Will B. Bell. He’s in demand around the world as a choreographer/teacher, has worked with some of today’s most popular artists, and is considered a master in his profession.
A Glimpse of Mastery
When I was a young father, the earliest metrics for success” for my kids was simple: They’ll crawl, walk, run, and if they were happy… we would dance and never make falling a thing that mattered. But as life would have it, things seemed a bit more complex over time when in a parent-teacher conference a teacher asked me this: “Mr. Bell, Will is having difficulty keeping still in the classroom. Could you talk to him?” I had no idea that I was raising a creative genius with a God-given kinetic memory. He was born for movement. Since my kid wasn’t a real disruption to the class (and just a minor irritation to his teacher) I didn’t mention the teacher’s comments.
The Pursuit of Mastery
These days my team and I engage with extraordinary, professionally accomplished people whose life movements often reflect discontent with the status quo, and they treat mediocrity like a disease. Most of us have always had a desire to do “that one thing” or push to achieve something extraordinary in a way that affirms our hidden genius. If we’re lucky, we’ll catch a glimpse of a master at work, fall under the spell of their infectious high-performance mindset, and renew our journey to Mastery.
Mastery requires one to give 100% of themselves for a long period of time at the RISK OF LOOKING BAD while repeatedly falling short… until the evidence of expert transformation takes hold. In my opinion, the pursuit of mastery doesn’t always call for a radical career change or cessation of involvement with a current interest. But it does require a change of FOCUS and increase in intensity that at times will push us to the limit.
In The Process of Mastery
Personally, I find it profoundly important to remember that if we’re purposed toward mastery, we should also employ patience with ourselves and empathy for those who are new and untrained in their roles. We all crawl, walk, run, and then dance thru progress understanding that FALLING and MISTAKES are part of the journey. Let’s give ourselves and the people we lead permission:
- To look bad while trying, but remind them it’s temporary
- To misunderstand things without judging their intelligence
- To be authentic without fear of comparison
- To expect your opinion, without condescending
If we’re lucky, we’ll all become better, wiser, stronger leaders who are known for our mastery. Maybe, it’s time to start again. Let’s all crawl, then walk, and dance in celebration of new beginnings and opportunities on the journey in pursuit of MASTERY.
CB3
