The ONE Way You Can Get Good at Anything
People say this all the time...
“I want success now. I want to earn $500 in the next 30 days!
However, one thing that I rarely hear in the online world by newcomers and even some folks that think they are seasoned marketers is...
“I want to become great at _________”.
People want the money, but what they don’t understand that in order to achieve success you need to become great at something. In fact, just one thing. It can be anything.
You could become an expert at the “hula hoop” and be very successful, or in the case of what we are talking about, you could become great at ONE thing online and be very, very successful.
I guess that leaves the question, how do you become great at something?
Before I answer the question, I want to give you a few examples of experts.
Michael Jordan.
Richard Branson.
Bobby Fisher.
What do you think these people did to become an expert? What was one common thing that ALL of them did to get to their level of expertise and their greatness?
Got an answer?
Here it goes...
PRACTICE!
Yeah, that is it. To become great at something, you practice that one thing...regardless of what it is. You practice until you go blue in the face. Yeah, might seem a little crazy but when you enjoy what you are doing (back to that “passion” thing again), it doesn't feel like an arduous task to become good at it.
Michael Jordan practised to the point where hitting a shot did not take thought, it was second nature. This allowed him to think and see other things that he wouldn’t have seen if he had not developed this expertise.
Richard Branson practised business and become very good at it in creating his Virgin brand. He became an expert not overnight, but through years and years of tireless practice until his decision making on the “right” decisions in business became second nature.
Bobby Fisher became the most prolific chess player through his expertise in making the right moves. Was he psychic? No, he developed an innate ability to predict the other players moves because he had “seen it all” through practice.
In fact, in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, he explains that the “elite performers” all had something in common, regardless of their trade. An expert violinist or an expert journalist all had either put 10 years or 10,000 hours into something to achieve greatness.
Here is a popular quote from the book:
““The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything,” writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin.”
Really, when it comes down to it ANYONE can be great at ANYTHING. If this doesn’t excite you, I know what will.
Becoming an expert online means a big business. This year marks my 11th year within the online world. I have lived and breathed Internet Business for the last 11 years. Am I an expert?
Probably at some things, definitely not even close to everything. In fact, I know a fraction of what there is to know online and that is fine with me. You only have to be great at ONE thing to achieve great success.
Remember that the next time you tell yourself you can’t be good at this. Remember that the next time you attempt to try to become great a bunch of different things.
Yes, maybe we will not all be able to play basketball like Michael Jordan and maybe we will not all be the next artist with the skills of a Picasso, but I can assure you we can get pretty damn close.
Your path to expertise starts here, it starts today. Focus on doing ONE thing great. You will surprise yourself and it will be much quicker than the 10 years before people start calling you an expert.
Before your become great, you must become good. Good can take you a long way in business as well!
What facet of the Internet are you going to carve out as your place to become an “expert”?
Recent Comments
1.9K
My ultimate aim has all ways been to become a good writer. I have written manuscripts now which I am determine to get published soon. I have found out that ignorance is truly the night of the mind. I also read that by the lack of knowledge people perish. So in my seventy two years of living on the earth, the knowledge which I have accumulated should not just serve me only then accompanied me to the grave but that I should pass it on, leaving it on record so that the next generation can be helped in making wiser decisions.
I want to be an expert writer. I want to write meaningful and helpful blogs and posts. I want to help my fellow WA members to become what they desire to be. In doing this, I will propel myself into being an expert. All of us should have a mission in life. That is my mission in life...helping others to be experts.
Joe
That is very good! I think you can achieve that ,its going to take time and remember to be consistent.
I want to become an expert, I have lots of reasons for this, to provide a better life for my wife and children, be financially secure and enable my children to have it a bit easier than I have had and I want to be able to teach those who think life is lost and our down and out that there is a way to recover.
To do this I need to become an expert not just at marketing but at business, and all the above will then take care of themselves.
Craig
I have participated and observed sporting events since I was 5 years old. I want to be an online expert in sports betting and Daily Fantasy Sports. I have experienced financial success in all these sports with my system. Now that the laws are changing for sports betting in the USA, I am ready to share my knowledge, and as a WA member will learn best practices of the best way to spread the word about my expertise on the internet.
As of right now, I want to become an expert in creating content -- as this seems to be one of the best ways to get tons of traffic to a website.
After doing this for several months I can now write much faster... but I want to become even better (an expert)!
I look forward to practicing my writing efficiency within the upcoming days, months, and years. :)
Hi Kyle. This is a great post.
I would like to mention, that to endure and succeed in a big way, many things need to come together.
But, the foremost two things are definitely the two important things., and you mention them in your courses:
1. Long-term work
2. PASSION
I am emphasizing PASSION because If you are passionate about and you love what you do it is much easier to endure along the way, to work harder and to endure all the way down, through the years.
All the tasks, effort, time and learning will look much easier and the results will be better. Talent is also important to make a difference, but, without passion, talent will remain undiscovered.
WA helped me to show off my passion for writing and learning about online marketing. I am learning stuff in an easy, simple and very understandable way.
Of course, I would like (i guess, as many other members here at WA also) to make a living out of it, what for I am still not prepared for it, but I have to thank you for your encouragement and the simple and understandable way of learning such things.
I am looking forward to finishing my Bootcamp training and to go on with developing my online venture, hopefully, one day into making a living out of it.
I have still time to make it, lastly, I am "just 56". Started late, but I hope, not too late! I think that online marketing doesn't know ages, borders, nationalities, professions, occupations, marriage status, and all other things in life.
Really big opportunity for everybody!
Best regards!
I want to become great at Content Marketing first, and start selling pretty regularly through my posts. Then when I am great at that, I want to move onto Social Media Marketing.
I think you need to focus on one thing at a time rather than trying to do everything at once.
I want to get good at ALL things website! There are so many things that I never did before I joined WA. I have a degree in IT, but it didn't prepare me for so many of the technical things that we have to learn to do with a website; SEO, videos, driving traffic, how to monetize, social media, and on and on!
The other thing I would like to be good at is working a little faster. Seems that it takes me forever to complete my tasks even though on online from morning to night!
All that said, I really enjoy building my online business. I'm working very, very hard, but I never get tired of forging ahead!
Verna
I'm not a very sociable person and conversation is quite challenging for me. I find that learning to write content in an engaging and conversational manner is not natural for me. This is something that is going to require a significant amount of practice.
I'm a cellist. I know about practice. Here goes.
Brian, you've got the right attitude. Remember the hardest step is the first one. I think that the more you engage in writing you will find that it will get easier with each article. Soon you will start to feel like a natural! Hang in there!
The first step is to know the problem from there you'll have a path to go.
I'm sure you'll do this :)
Hi Verna, thanks for this. As you rightly say, it will start feeling more natural with time.
All the best,
Brian
Hi Stefan, good of you to reply. Thanks. Identify the problem and then move towards the solution. :)
All the best,
Brian
See more comments
I really want to create an ebook. I am collecting the information in my blogs on the niche site and will turn it into a great book eventually.
I'm not sure I want to be an expert but I want to do it well enough that I can sell it.
Hi there,
I am also working on an ebook. How is yours coming along? I heard you can create an ebook in Canva with the paid version. I thought just to write it in the Site Content or Word. What did you use?