There is a point in any craft where effort stops feeling like struggle and starts feeling like expression. The pianist no longer thinks about finger placement—the music simply flows. The writer stops wrestling with words—sentences emerge fully formed.
This is mastery. Not the absence of challenge, but the transformation of challenge into play.
The 10,000 Hour Myth
We've all heard the number. Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that 10,000 hours of practice leads to expertise. But raw hours tell only part of the story.
What matters is deliberate practice—focused work at the edge of your ability, with immediate feedback and specific goals. An hour of deliberate practice is worth ten hours of mindless repetition.
The Plateau of Competence
Most people reach a level of competence and stop there. They can play guitar well enough for campfire songs. They can write clearly enough for emails. They can code well enough to ship features.
Competence is comfortable. Mastery is not.
To push beyond competence, you must embrace discomfort. You must seek out the exercises that expose your weaknesses. You must be willing to feel like a beginner again.
The Infinite Game
Here's what they don't tell you about mastery: you never arrive.
The master sees more clearly how far there is to go. Each summit reveals higher peaks. The horizon recedes as you approach it.
This is not a bug. It's the feature.
Mastery is not a destination. It's a way of traveling.