How to Master Your Expertise?

All about expertise

With more access to education, information and somewhat easily obtainable certifications, professionals with expertise are on the rise. But as professionals with expertise multiply, what once qualified someone as an expert is now an outdated standard.

With the inflation of expertise, the standard according to which the expertise is measured has been updated.

Which is to be expected, considering that the more experts there are, the cheaper the "expertise". Thus, to move to the next level, experts master their expertise.

How do I master my expertise?

Should I turn to online courses? Or a mentor? How do I find and choose one? Should I get a certification? Are online courses and certifications good enough for how I measure my self-worth and my expertise? What would make me feel the most confident and skillful in my expertise?

How do I rise above the countless experts and how can I confidently declare myself a master of my expertise? To these questions and self-doubts I come forward with a solution. Let me explain and detail it.

Expertise as a system

Over the years, as the technological leap and the fast-paced evolution of our society have been putting more pressure on our daily lives and professions, more people than ever are turning to self-development and coaching.

Due to the challenging times, people have been shaken from the usual status-quo, ultimately facing obstacles and confusion both professionally and personally.

People having a better understanding of themselves, their skills and abilities, with a sturdy set of expertise can more easily overcome obstacles and flourish at whatever they set their minds to.

When you have a clear understanding of your skills and abilities and merge them into a "system" or product that includes your passion into your profession, you become a master of your field, or an influencer.

Over the years, there have been a few guidelines on how to get clarity on why and what we do: Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs", Simon Sinek's "The Golden Circle", just to name a few.

These are guidelines specially designed to get clarity in what you do, why you do it and how you do it. These guidelines will give you clarity on what skills to use, which of your innate abilities are most useful and how to merge them with your passion in a comprehensive "system" or technique that taps into and brings forth your potential.

Step 1: Forge your foundation

Your experience, values, skills and abilities are the foundation of everything. Foundation is of extreme importance in everything you want to do. As such, compress your past experience to its essence. Summarize your most important experiences down to their core and extract what you've learned, what skills you've acquired and what abilities you've tapped into.

The more compressed the experience, the more solid you build your foundation for the next step.

Now that you've extracted the core of what you've learned from your experiences and identified how each experience changed you, write down all abilities and skills you've become aware of. This list of skills, abilities and traits is the essence of your foundation.

Step 2: Hone your foundation

Now that you've distilled your wide range of skills, abilities and traits into the "essence" of your unique value, it's time to get accustomed and attuned to a more aware use of it. Put it to use in the most focused and straightforward possible way. Frequently put to use the essence of your foundation, your unique value. Frequency of repetition strengthens your foundation, your clarity and confidence.

Step 3: One skill to mastery

There's this old saying "one skill to eat your fill". A fisherman needs just one skill to excel at fishing: knowing what the fish think and their swimming patterns.

He doesn't need to know how to make the best fishing rod, how to grow the best bait, or how to row the fastest. All these things can be done by someone else.

There are others who can be the most proficient experts in their craft. The best blacksmith will sell him the fishing rod, the best farmer will sell him the baits, etc. The best fisherman needs just one skill to eat his fill: fishing.

Now that you've laid down the basics of your foundation, that you've grown accustomed to using your core skills and abilities in a conscious manner, it's time to choose a path: it's time, like the fisherman, to strip down all other things that divert your time and attention, it's time to focus on the fish and leave the baits, fishing rods and boats to someone else.

From your core skills, abilities and traits, choose one that is best for your profession. One that is best for you. Choose one that is ever-present throughout your experience, that is fundamental to your foundation. This is your "one skill to eat your fill".

Now, you have stepped on the road to become the master of your craft.

Step 4: A skill into passion

Put your heart and mind into practicing the "one skill to eat your fill". This skill must be part of what your passion is. It might be even your passion itself. Either way, only if you love "doing" this skill will it not become tiresome, tedious and hard.

This "one skill to eat your fill" should be something you love doing. Something that you do naturally. If it does become tiresome and you find yourself having some resistance to using this skill in your practice, you should go back to Step 3 and choose again. If it's your profession that becomes dull, maybe you should start thinking about a new career.

Step 5: Perseverance is key

Why do so few experts rise to prominence in any industry or profession? Because we live in a fast-paced environment, where patience is a virtue and perseverance has become a rare trait. All experts who rose to prominence have at least this one thing in common: they persevered in doing what they love to do. Only later, over the years, when they "honed" their skill to mastery were they acknowledged as masters of their craft.

Progressing every day leads to a qualitative change. After a while, success is assured.

Step 6: Master of your craft

Turn what you learn into a system. The "one skill to eat your fill" is the centerpiece — everything spins out from it, all other skills, abilities, theories, practices stem from it, or are complementary to it.

For example, Simon Sinek's whole activity stems from the simple yet stunning concept of "Why – What – How". He does corporate work, conferences about motivation, marketing plans, etc. — all with the "Golden Circle" concept at its center. All of Steve Jobs' work stems from "stunning creativity through simplicity": Apple, iPhone, iPad, Pixar — all have this concept at the core of their products.

You can use these six steps to re-forge your professional expertise, to create a coaching system, to develop your passion in a practical way, in counseling and consulting, or in something entirely new altogether.

Enjoy!