The
concept of Mastery is something that we hardly talk about in society as a whole
today. More than anything, emphasis is laid mainly on results and immediate
gratification (which are not bad things). When accomplishments are made, all
the focus is on the accomplishment as opposed to the continuous harnessing of
the skill responsible for the end result. Usually many fall into the category
of accomplishing a goal, (take the example of a one-hit wonder) and falling in
love with that one accomplishment (a multi-platinum album) and forgetting that
there are more accomplishments (more multi-platinum albums), and they stop
honing and adding to the skills that got them the first accomplishment (writing
and making better music). The result is usually a mediocre accomplishment or no
accomplishment at all (next album drops and they can’t get it to go Wood). I
digress.
Here
is a story on Mastery. When I was in Primary school (Elementary school for
Americans), I saw my Uncle smoking a stick of cigarette and I was intrigued. I
decided then, that I would try this thing one day. That night, I stole a fresh
stick of Benson and Hedges from his newly opened pack. I chilled until the next
morning to smoke it, just in case. I woke up feeling very exited the next
morning. The first thing I did was to look for a location in the house to fill
my lungs with smoke. I found it and proceeded to get the tools to make it
happen, the cigarette and a match box. It was a very disappointing session
though. I put the cigarette in my mouth and lit it. Then I tried to drag the
smoke into my mouth with no luck, no smoke. I messed up. I threw the cigarette
on the floor and stepped on it to kill the lit ashes.
Years
later (at this point I was in Secondary school), I was at the house Jobless
with an idle mind and as you know an idle mind is the devil's workshop…. I left
the house to go and buy an individual stick of any brand of cigarette from the
aboki down my street; on my way there I saw an older head from the neighborhood
smoking. He dragged his cigarettes with skills. This act re-enforced my intent.
I watched him closely to see exactly how he was successfully dragging smoke
into his mouth. Hmmm... I noticed something and it took me back to my first attempt
at smoking. I realized that I had the wrong end of the cigarette in my mouth on
that day and worst of all, i lit up the bud. I never made that mistake again.
I
got home that day, went to the back of the house, lit it up, dragged
successfully, inhaled and blew out the smoke from my mouth feeling like a bad
guy. After 5 drags, my head started spinning (for non smokers this is what is
referred to as HEAD RUSH), then I got nauseated. At this point, I threw the
cigarette on the ground, went into the house, brushed my teeth, washed my hand
and went to chill on my bed. I was sick the rest of the day. That did not stop
me from visiting the Aboki again 2 days later. This time, I felt the nausea and
the head rush, but I was determined to finish a whole stick …talk about
harnessing skills...
Soon
enough I began to smoke at least 2 sticks of different brands once a week. Then
all of a sudden, my taste buds could tell the difference between a menthol
cigarette and a regular cigarette. Weeks later, it could identify the taste of
the different cigarette brands.
Later
I introduced my new habit to school. I was surprised at the reaction I got…
