Nowadays, it’s getting harder and harder every day to make your own place in the society. To get more valuable in the business world. But there is a way to be valued for what you truly worth and it’s to become an expert in your field.
Don’t worry, it’s never too late to become an expert in any industry you want, you just need to follow some simple steps.
When we will get to it, you will see that becoming an expert is not as complicated as it may sound. It’s a lot like changing a habit. Also, there are no secrets when it comes to the path to becoming an expert, it’s only one way with three simple steps that require a lot of effort and hard work. A lot of effort and hard work well scheduled, preferably on a daily basis -like any habit- that way, it will get easier and the hardship of the goal will no longer remain as expected.
No more general talking and let’s get into it, here are the 3 simple steps required in order to become an expert in anything you want:
1.Study
Start by acquiring as much knowledge as possible concerning the industry you are interested about.
You have to feed yourself with as much information as possible concerning your topic.
This is a must and you can’t avoid it.
So, you are going to dive in all the content that relates to your field. Read all the books and articles that you can, watch as many videos as possible, assist to events that relate to it… in brief, everything that concerns the area in which you want to reach the level of expertise you need to check it and get all the possible knowledge out of it. Seriously, any way you can acquire more knowledge concerning your industry you need to do it.
Today it’s easier than what we might think to access all the information and knowledge we need. The internet is full of it, you just need to look for what you need and make a good investigation.
Always start with the basics: google your main topic. If it’s too vague, try to google sub-topics, and then start learning from all the content you will find.
Do the same for events related to it, subreddits that discuss what you are looking for in Reddit, videos through youtube and courses in Udemy, Lynda and all other learning platforms that you know.
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Sometimes you find yourself in front of a lot of information, just don’t worry and take it step by step, if you keep studying you will certainly understand all of it.
2.Talk about it
That’s such a nice way to get better and more accurate knowledge about the industry you want to become an expert in.
Either discuss all the related topics of your industry in events, meetings or even online through forums and Reddit. There are subreddits for almost everything, you will definitely find one that concerns you. Dive there and start interacting with all the community that share same interests as you.
Also, don’t hesitate to mentor or teach anyone who has an interest in your area. You might wonder “How helping someone else with what I know can help me to get more expertise?” It’s simple. If you are able to teach and explain something to someone and making it simple and easy to him/her to understand, this will just prove that you are perfectly understanding what you are talking about. If not, you will certainly put more effort to know exactly all the details so you could explain it and make it clear and simple.
Just don’t be like one of those “gurus”, “ninjas” and “masters” that are popping every day on the internet. They explain things they never understood well, and that only lead to a lot of misinformation and people with fake expertise- they are experts only in their minds, but in fact, they need to work a lot to achieve such level-.
So interact as much as possible and you will rapidly start to notice many improvements concerning all the knowledge. You will start getting more and more expertise and you will soon be ready to be a total expert ready to go to the ground.
3.Practice
Nothing at all will make you an expert in your industry more than practicing.
It’s only through hours and hours of practicing that you are going to reach the level of expertise.
It’s the core activity and it’s only through practicing that you will get yourself facing all the problems and challenges that real life puts people through.
It’s going to be tough at first of course, but just don’t get discouraged and keep practicing. There is no other way and no shortcuts. In fact, according to Malcolm Gladwell, a famous author, and journalist, wrote in his book “Outliers” that it takes 10,000 hours in order to achieve the mastery in a particular field.
If you practice for example for 5 hours a day every day, you will need 5 years at least to reach the level of mastery.
It’s not short and it takes dedication and true envy to do it.
But it’s possible! It just requires from you to invest your time, put effort and work on it.
These steps are simple, not easy certainly, but are simple. Acquire as much knowledge as possible, discuss it a lot, and practice it for thousands of hours.
If you want to become an expert, that’s your way to do it.
Avoid finding excuses and start now.
As a very wise entrepreneur said:
There aren’t shortcuts.
Merely direct paths.
Most people don’t take them, because they frighten us.
Things that look like shortcuts are usually detours disguised as less work.
– Seth Godin