An appreciation for the air guitar
Air guitarists understand how to play music.
Many good musicians are consciously trying. They are focused, concentrating, working. They use thought and effort to bring out a certain sound. These are not masters.
Air guitarists with no knowledge of the instrument are more like master musicians than many dilettantes. They know, instinctively, automatically, that the verb of making music - to play - means freedom, ease, joy, the absence of trying.
Technique and practice
Obviously a big difference between the air guitarist and the master is technique. But the air guitarist's fantasy of mastery is the correct one: effortless, joyful play.
If the master has achieved great technique but plays effortlessly, it follows that the master is one whose technique is effortless.
They don't just "make it look easy." The master's technique is actually easy.
Mastery is defined by effortlessness.
That, then, becomes the litmus test: if the technique is not yet effortless, it is not yet mastered. If you are thinking about the technique, if you are trying, you have not yet mastered it. (This can be a tough pill to swallow!)
Our biggest mistake practicing is moving on too quickly. When we get something right with effort we think, "Aha! Now I know how do do it!" We think 'knowing' is the end goal, and start to add more on top--but anyone who's studied a new language can tell you, 'knowing' isn't fluency. You can know the right grammar to use, but if you're pausing every sentence to remember it and put it together, you're not fluent, plain and simple.
If it is not yet effortless, it is not yet mastered.
We must practice until the words, the notes, the brush strokes, the code, whatever it is we use to do what we do, passes beyond knowledge and into the effortless.
Pause for self-evaluation
What fundamentals of your art, your work, your studies, of your personal values have you truly mastered? Be honest.
What skills are really effortless, and what do you still have to think about doing to get right?
What practice would it take to make those things effortless? What practice could you do effortlessly, every day? (Start small.)
Mastery beyond mastery
What if you chose to become a master of compassion? A master of honesty? What if you sought to master generosity, or curiosity?
You may know how you want to live, but simply knowing isn't mastery.
Mastery is living effortlessly.
Do you want to live effortlessly? (Sounds nice.)
Okay then: how will you become a master at living your life?