How will I know when I've mastered something?

[Cody_Atzori]

what is the mastery test so to speak? I'm young and there's lots of things I want to master, so I would like to know what it really means.

[LastThursday]

It's tricky, because there's two types of mastery.

One type would be like tying your shoelaces or riding a bike. It's a very defined thing, you can either do it or you can't. You know when you've mastered it, when you can do it.

The other is less defined. This would be like learning a language or a martial art. You can always learn more words or new moves or whatever - it doesn't end.  But in this case mastery would be fluency. So the test is, can I do this thing without thinking about how to do it? Instead you are able to think about what you want to do. It's kind of like autopilot, that's mastery.

[daniel695]

before you master something you will be able to see progress in it. depending what is it will be different like tennis or baskeball or self development. what you should ask is what are the progress in this area.

[DoubleYou]

When it happens naturally. Without effort.

[Conscious life]

You will not know 

[Rigel]

Very interesting question. I think it's a bit misleading to think of it in terms of a place that you'll eventually get to because the depth of mastery is unfathomable. Once you reach what you thought was the end your perspective expends to take in more and you find yourself right back where you started. That's why the greatest Masters didn't view themselves as that but as eternel student. Mastery is more of a mindset and a process not a goal. No matter the skill level if you are able to get into flow for extended periods of time and let your intuition guide you through the learning that's what I would call being on the mastery process. My point of view. 

Also creativity and mastery are leaning on each other. Being creative in whatever field you are mastering is going to boost your progress a lot. 

[TheAvatarState]

@Cody_Atzori being a "master" at something is a very loose definition that requires a lot of context. It basically means "world-class" level. You know the in's and out's of every aspect or mechanic of your craft. You have intense practices and years of built up muscle memory. It's also a philosophy. You see your craft as art that enriches your human experience. 

A master knows he's a master, because no one gets there by accident. 

[Pacific Sage]

On 10/28/2019 at 5:07 PM, LastThursday said:

It's tricky, because there's two types of mastery.

One type would be like tying your shoelaces or riding a bike. It's a very defined thing, you can either do it or you can't. You know when you've mastered it, when you can do it.

The other is less defined. This would be like learning a language or a martial art. You can always learn more words or new moves or whatever - it doesn't end.  But in this case mastery would be fluency. So the test is, can I do this thing without thinking about how to do it? Instead you are able to think about what you want to do. It's kind of like autopilot, that's mastery.

Adding to this, this was my thought process too when I read the topic.

2 types -

1) Absolute - you can master table of 2 in mathematics and you know it's going to be the same.

2) Relative - one can say Usain Bolt has mastered the 100mt Sprint as of this moment. But who's to say this is the peak, am sure this will be broken soon.

As Leo says you need to be prepared to put in 10000 hours of practice to really master something which is complicated. In those 10000 hours muscle memory, strategy, implementation, mind set and every other factor will come together and you can relatively be a master.

[universe]

Your question is very broad. What is it that you want to master and why do you want to master it?

If you want to master the piano or your painting skills or some other skill Id say you never master it. You will always find ways to improve. The 80/20 rule might apply meaning that you can get 80% of the skill with relatively little amount of work. While the last 20% will take way longer. For this 20% again you will learn the first 80% of that way faster than the remaining 20% and so on. So there is always something to learn.

If you want to master something to get a specific result, you might be trying to solve a problem. For example if you want to master your social skills.

The act of mastery mostly boils down to emotional work. Because in the end the factor that is stopping you on your way to master something will always be yourself. You will have to put in the work, there is no way to go around that. So if you cant motivate yourself or if the work feels to hard for you - you can become stuck.

More details are in this related video