You are the apprentice Everyone serves an apprenticeship. Sometimes several of them.  Attaining levels of mastery are not found looking for shortcuts.  Skills, judgment, and character are earned through sustained practice, the lessons of failure, patience, and time.  No shortcuts.

The process will test your patience.  You have seen or can visualize the end state, but delays, ambiguity, and pace will push against and probe your discipline.  It doesn’t matter whether you are building a house, trying a new recipe, or managing your work, everything you do is part of the process.  Even making your…

First, you must survive.  Success comes later. Life runs much like a startup.   It’s about resilience and staying power; moving through many life stages.   Fail, then succeed.  Fail again and get back on your feet.  Few have the luxury of a comfy fallback cushion.  The stronger mindset, the growth mindset, is not “never fail,” but…

What do you want? To receive, you must first ask.  Ask with clarity and respect.  Be specific about your intent.  Know why you want it, when you want it, and how much is involved.   This is how you start the flow.  It’s then up to you to act in order to complete the cycle. …

Sweat the small stuff. Apollo 13’s mission was to land on the moon.  The launch was perfect, and the three astronauts were on their way.  Then a damaged heating unit inside an oxygen tank caught fire and blew up.  The mission had to be scrubbed.  Fortunately, the crew were able to return to earth. It’s…

Think.  Do you commit to learn something new every day?  Maybe through reading, creating, trying something for the twentieth time, but in a new way?   Learning is the habit that makes you adaptable, mentally flexible, confident.  It opens unexpected doors. Progress with your skills and knowledge compounds.   Where you are today is a consequence of…