Gaining Mastery In Your Field -By Emmanuel Bulus Jnr.

In the study of business, there’s a principle called “the Pareto Principle”, it’s also called the 20/80 principle.

The Pareto Principle state that a person or organization that spent time, energy, money and personnel on the most important priorities. The result is a four fold return in productivity. For example 20 percent of people in an organization will be responsible for 80 percent of the company’s success, same applies to time, reading, job, leadership, speech, counseling, products, donations etc.

*Malcolm Gladwell,* in his best-selling book, *_outliers_* (Back Bay Books, 2011), quotes the extensive research that shows that it takes several years, on average, for a person to become excellent in his or her chosen field.

According to Gladwell, mastery in any field requires 10,000 hours, or seven years of hard work, or both.

It’s amazing how many people want to be recognized by those around them as outstanding and best in their field yet they seldom pay the price for it.

Don’t be deceived, every great life you admire is an accumulation of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of efforts that nobody ever sees or appreciates. Like *Brain Tracy* will say *” Great success is the result of countless hours, maybe even months and years, of preparation and hard work toward the goal of becoming very good at what you are doing.*

Life is very much like a balance sheet, with both credits and debits. Every time you do something positive to enhance your abilities and to improve your life, you get a credit on the credit side of your ledger. Each time you waste your time, or neglect to take advantage of an opportunity to learn and grow, you get debit on the debit side of the ledger. There’s no neutral ground, everything counts. Everything you do is either improving you to a better life or moving you back from it.

*Darren Hardy* in his book titled *”The Compound Effect”* (Vanguard Press, 2011), explains how it is that everything positive you do in your life Compounds and multiplies, growing with force and power over months and years.

In the 21st century world you’ve got to be a master in your field. This is because with the globalization and technology have made the world a Global village, the boundaries that separate the developed countries from the third world countries have been broken; companies, firms and organizations now source for the best talents anywhere in the world. They will always come for the Masters of the game, whether they are white or black, male or female, rich or poor Etc. ” *There is no discrimination against excellence,”* so says *Oprah Winfrey.*

In conclusion, if your goal is to be the best in your field and to be recognized by those around you as outstanding in your field, then, you must be willing to pay the price, overcome any obstacle, and make any effort necessary to become excellent and outstanding in your chosen field by improving incrementally, continuously, over a long period of time.