You Got Skills

Learning and mastering a new skill takes initiative, resilience, and a commitment to sharing.

Initiative isn't the hard part. You pick a point, perhaps a point that feels relatively comfortable, and you start. Easy, then, becomes your starting point. Depending on the skill you are learning, maybe a good place to begin is a google search, a walk around the house, or maybe it's a small change in the way you communicate with others. A good place to begin is right where you are.

Resilience can feel a bit more difficult than initiative. It requires you to stay on top of your goals and find motivation anywhere you can, ideally from within. Again, depending on the skill you are working, your incentives will vary. Perhaps your resilience to succeed comes from a raise that comes with the new skill, a newfound respect from others in your field, or the quiet satisfaction of knowing you did it.

Sharing your new skill with others is where mastery happens. However, sharing your newly acquired skill takes courage. Courage can feel hard. It often lies buried beneath layers of fear and avoidance. Fear of the unknown. Sharing something new can leave you open to feelings of vulnerability that we typically shy away from because vulnerability may not always feel so good. Oftentimes, the more vulnerable a situation makes us feel, the more mission critical it is to move toward it. Lean into these feelings as best you can knowing that mastery of your new skill is just around the bend.

When learning a new skill with an eye toward mastery, save your energy for the harder parts of the process and let the easier parts unfold as they may. With each successful step through initiative and resilience, the confidence you need to eventually share your new skill will build until any fear you may have is overtaken by certainty.