What does it take to become “elite” in a field? And this can be just about any field with the exception of professional sports where certain genetics traits are required depending on the sport. It could be sales, it could writing, it could be leadership, it could be bushcraft, it could a million different things.
Though I wouldn’t include dating/picking up girls because that’s not really a skill, unless you call confidence a skill, that’s more having other things in place that facilitate that. For example being an interesting person that enjoys their life, having a location with lots of girls and place to take them too, being in decent shape and decent dresser, having the bare minimum of social skills, and so on and so forth.
But it’s not really a skill like we think of. When I talk about skills I’m talking about things you have to work to develop, both art and crafts fall into this. Boxing qualifies as a skill, so does negotiation, so does woodworking, so does writing, and so on and so forth. What we’re going to discuss is how to become elite in any given skill.
The Drudgery Of The Elite
The path to “eliteness” is filled with drudgery and being bored out of your mind for a good portion of the time. Going over certain things over and over and over and over and over and over again until your head wants to explode. Doesn’t matter what it is. Khabib the former undefeated UFC Lightweight champion compared being a professional athlete to being a prisoner in a RT sports interview saying.
“I think living the life of an athlete is somewhat close to being held in prison. Because everyday he has to do exactly the same thing-train, rest, then train again, then rest. It’s like living in the same mode, at the same pace, not slowing down.”
And this holds true for becoming elite in any field. You have to put in the work, the drudgery and then do that over and over again for years on end without blinking. It’s downright awful when you really think about it. But that’s what getting to an elite level takes. It’s not a pretty picture. It’s a boring one actually. Your mind will often go numb during the process.
Work Hard, Work Smart, Put In Time, Again & Again
That’s essentially the formula. Work hard each and every time, learn all that you can about your field from every source that you can find, and then do that day in and day out for decades upon decades. Again not fun, but effective. You really can’t get around putting the time and work in. Working smart doesn’t abdicate the need to put in the work it just lessens the time it takes to get to the level you want.
So instead of it taking 140 years it takes 50 or something like that. Working hard alone doesn’t cut it, working smart alone doesn’t cut it, but I’ve covered this topic before so I won’t belabor the point here. Point is there isn’t an either/or choice when it comes to becoming elite. There’s only forward with both engines going full blast. And to keep going until you make it.
Boring but effective. For example I’ll use copyrighting. So the first thing is I write copy each and every day even on the rare days when I don’t have anything to write. In addition to this I read every book I can get on the subject and take every course available. Are there redundancies, yup absolutely, but that’s fine by me. It takes the mind more than one time for something to sink in anyways.
I also copy ads every day, by hand, in a notebook. I listen to audiobooks and podcasts on the subject whenever I’m traveling. Don’t get me wrong I have other hobbies and things I like to do but I’m committed all in for this. I still go to the gym, go out with friends, hunt,, take weekends off, and live a life. I’m just saying it’s more than a 9-5 thing.
It’s a life commitment.
