The 4 Things You Can Do That Will Make You An Expert At Anything

We hear a lot about “10,000 hours” being what it takes to become an expert. But the majority of people totally misunderstand the idea.

The guy who actually created the theory is Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University.

His wonderful new book is Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise.

So what does everybody get wrong? 2 things.

First, the “10,000 hour rule” is not a rule and it’s not an exact number. The amount of time varies from field to field. It’s an average. But it’s always a lot and more is better. Here’s Anders:

In most domains it’s remarkable how much time even the most “talented” individuals need in order to reach the highest levels of performance. The 10,000 hour number just gives you a sense that we’re talking years of 10 to 20 hours a week which those who some people would argue are the most innately talented individuals still need to get to the highest level.

What’s the second mistake? Becoming an expert is not merely doing something over and over for 10,000 hours. There’s a right way (and an awful lot of wrong ways) to spend that time.

Let’s learn the right way…

1) Find A Mentor

The first step is social. You need to know what to do. And that’s where mentors, coaches and teachers come in.

I knew when I was trying to rebuild my network marketing business I had to find out how to use the internet.  Traditional marketing methods were not working for me.

No one would come to my parties, I would give away free samples and people would not follow up and give me feedback.  Business cards and flyers were not getting me any responses.

I was going nowhere fast and needed help quick.  This went on for 8 months.

Then I found a mentor through a system to learn how to use the internet to build my brand and my business online.  It all started with a Free 10-day bootcamp and learning what Attraction Marketing is – getting people to come to me instead of me chasing them down – and how to use it to my advantage.

My mentor was making multiple 6-Figures and was like me – an Engineer that wanted out of the corporate world.

The secret here is “mental representations.” You want to be able to clearly and specifically visualize the right way to do something in your head. This is what separates the experts from the chumps.

Ferny and the team at Elite Marketing Pro gave me that vision and then provided the training, coaching and mentoring to help me reach my business building goals.

 

So you need a clear idea of what it is you’re trying to do, whether it’s playing learning how to build a business on the internet with social media or wanting to expand you business using Attraction Marketing. The clearer your vision of it, the better you’ll able to detect and correct mistakes. Here’s Anders:

Once you have an idea here about what it is that you want to produce, then you can now start working on trying to be able to generate that experience. That requires a representation about what it should look like. Then, when you try to do it, you’re going to find that there are going to be differences between the representation and their performance. Those differences you can now focus on and eliminate. 

And you want to keep improving those mental representations as you learn, creating a clearer and clearer image of every detail.

Okay, you talked to someone who is better than you and you’ve got an image in your head of how to do things right.

Now just do that over and over until you begin crying uncontrollably, right? Wrong…

2) It’s Not “Try Harder”, It’s “Try Different”

Anders says the biggest problem most people have with getting better at something is that they’re not actually trying to get better at something.

Doing something over and over again does not necessarily make you better at it. If it did, we would all be excellent drivers and win a gold medal in shampooing our hair. Repetition is not expertise.

To improve, you need to get out of your comfort zone. Anders says this is one of the most critical things to remember. Mindlessly going through the motions does not improve performance.

That’s what I was doing, practicing the definition of insanity.  Doing the same thing over and over in my business and expecting different results.

 

Dan Coyle says you only want to be succeeding in 50-80% of your attempts. Less than that and you’ll get frustrated. More than that and you’re not pushing yourself.

And you want to be working on your weak points. That’s how you get better.

From Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise:

First, figure out exactly what is holding you back. What mistakes are you making, and when? Push yourself well outside of your comfort zone and see what breaks down first. Then design a practice technique aimed at improving that particular weakness. Once you’ve figured out what the problem is, you may be able to fix it yourself, or you may need to go to an experienced coach or teacher for suggestions.

And your goals need to be specific. Don’t say, “I want to be better at business.” Say, “I want to get better at engaging the audience at the beginning of my presentations.”

In August 2016 I realized people were sick and tired of being “sold”.  They didn’t want try my product knowing that my goal was to get them to sign up and buy more every moth.  Even when I told them all I wanted was there opinion, because they had heard it all before they would not believe me.

I couldn’t fix the problem myself so I started to search the internet to find the help I knew I needed if I wanted to re-build my MLM business.  That’s when I found Attraction Marketing Formula and Elite Marketing Pro to team me how to use the internet and social media to build my brand and my business from scratch.

In essence I read and ebook where I learned that it’s easier and better to reach out to people that are genuinely interested in what I had to offer – hence Attraction.  Then I learned how to build my brand – my brand is ME!

So…You’ve accumulated the knowledge on what’s right, what you’re doing wrong and what you need to do to get better. And that’s where most people breathe a sigh of relief. And then they fail miserably. Here’s what’s missing…

3) It’s About Doing, Not Knowing

You’ve read half this blog post. Are you half of an expert now? No.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that knowing equals doing. It doesn’t.

Watching a lot of football does not make you a great quarterback. 60 years of sitcoms hasn’t made people funnier.

Once you have the knowledge, you need to focus on building the skills. Remember the three F’s:

  1. Focus
  2. Feedback
  3. Fix it

You need to concentrate on having your execution match your mental representation. Then you need objective feedback on how well you performed. Then you need to analyze what you did wrong and how to do it better.

 

4) Study The Past To Have A Better Future

In the wold of Internet Marketing feedback is almost instantaneous!

When you post something online you know immediately if its getting positive or negative feedback based on the response from those out in cyberspace.

Look at examples of work that has already been evaluated. Can you detect the errors? Or what was done well?

This is a good way to develop your mental muscles and improve your skills when feedback is scarce or slow.  Learn how to duplicate so you can teach those skills to your team.

My Free 10-day bootcamp can not only teach you how to duplicate but show you how to use an automatic system to share your brand and business with only people that want what you have to offer.

 

Okay, let’s round up what we’ve learned about learning and get the happy secret to staying motivated…

Sum Up

Here’s what Anders says can make you an expert:

  • Get Help: Find a mentor who can help you develop that image in your head of the best way to do something.
  • It’s Not “Try Harder”, It’s “Try Different”: Design specific activities to address your weak points.
  • It’s About Doing, Not Knowing: Remember the 3F’s: Focus, Feedback, Fix it.
  • Study The Past To Have A Better Future: Find examples that have been judged and quiz yourself.

Don’t worry; you do not have to be a genius to become an expert at most things.

Expertise takes a lot of hard. That can be difficult to get motivated for. But this is where friends and business partners come in. Surround yourself with people who support you.

From Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise:

One of the best ways to create and sustain social motivation is to surround yourself with people who will encourage and support and challenge you in your endeavors.

When I interviewed Yale professor Nicholas Christakis, he talked about just how important the people who love us are in the process of achieving our goals:

It’s very important for people to understand that when they make a positive change in their lives it doesn’t just affect them. It affects everyone they know and many of the people that those people know and many of the people that those people in turn know. If you make a positive change in your life it actually ripples through the social fabric and comes to benefit many other people. This recognition that we are all connected and that in our connectedness we affect each other’s lives I think is a very fundamental and moving observation of our humanity.

There’s an old saying, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I believe it.  Do you?

Help others improve. Please share this with friends and those you know that can benefit from this information.

Thank you!

Cecelia Morris

P.S.,  The 10-day bootcamp is how I got my start branding myself and my business online and I can show you how it can help you too!

 

Free 10 Day Attraction Marketing Bootcamp

“Finally, An Easy Way To Recruit – Rejection FREE – Without Wasting Your Time & Money Chasing Dead Beat Prospects & Leads…”

privacy We value your privacy and would never spam you