Become better at any craft
There’s a method to all forms of madness
I have lived for decades with the thought of writing in my head. I loved stories and I didn’t know anything about writing stories. I loved blogging but I didn’t know what constitutes effective writing. Today, things are different but the questions remain the same.
How do we become better at our craft?
Let’s reverse-engineer this question. Instead of asking how do you get good at it? Let’s ask what “good” looks like to you. I was frustrated with my work. I hated everything I wrote. So much so that I never distributed my writing with intention. Not even on Facebook for friends and family. You could say I was embarrassed. You could also say I was afraid of rejection.
I always felt my writing wasn’t good enough. I felt this way because I was reading good writing all over the internet and wasn’t able to write so well. I couldn’t articulate my point. I thought I didn’t have a wide range of vocabulary.
So, one fine day, I was fed up with myself and I decided to answer the question — “What does good look like?” I asked myself what is the problem with my writing, let’s fix it. That sent me on a path to investigate good writing like a detective.
I re-read the articles I enjoyed reading the first time. I started decoding the writing into several elements. I still do it. My book reviews are part of that process where I decode the writing into a logical framework that makes sense to me as a writer.
I am a lot different now than I was when I embarked on the investigative quest. I am a better writer. I have achieved clarity in my writing and I can share without embarrassment. I am fine with negative feedback if there is any. In fact, I look forward to all kinds of feedback.
I discovered that if you want to get better at any craft, you need to answer this question — “What does good look like to you?” Then follow people who you think are good. Consume their work to decode it. What is it that makes you like their work? Can it be learned? If yes, how?
The right questions will put you on the right path. There’s no point in self-loathing and wallowing in the corner when you have the whole world at your fingertips. There’s an answer to every possible question. There are no skills that you cannot learn provided you are willing to practice those skills.
When you love something, you learn more about it, you improve at it then you learn some more and improve more at your craft. Mastery, therefore, is in the continuous iteration of your skills.
That’s how you learn anything in the world. That’s how you achieve mastery.