Expert (Mastery)

In martial arts the title “master” is bandied about somewhat indiscriminately and with no true standards to judge its use by. I advocated referring to it as a process of “mastering” and then realized that “expert or expertise” better describes our ultimate process, to become an expert in the discipline and skill of martial prowess.

So, with that in mind let’s discuss the process used to become an expert.

Experts make use of something other than logic to achieve their ends. To achieve expertise, initially a practitioner will follow a set of rules and later by using knowledge acquired situationally, through a number of particular instances - through experiences.

By the time we achieve expert - at a skill like martial arts - we no longer follow rules. We establish a goal we want to achieve, and then canvas instances stored in memory to determine the ideal strategy as practically applied tactics.

Whereas the proficient practitioner makes conscious decisions, the expert pulls from thousands of special cases in order to act quickly and intuitively.

Don’t limit yourself to being an undefinable master but instead work the processes to become an expert. One day you will achieve expertise in karate and realize that unlike the label  of master, expertise involves a continued process ethic ongoing in nature. 

Like enso, never a complete but a continuous effort of and for life.