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Being Successful Is Great and All—But Being a Master Is Even More Impressive

Updated 6/19/2020
Being Successful Is Great and All—But Being a Master Is Even More Impressive
Mastering your job is a lot different than being successful, but you can do it.

If asked, you’d probably say you’re pretty good at your job, right? You go in every day, get your tasks done, and even take on an additional project here and there. And, hey, you landed that promotion last year, too!

But, that doesn’t mean you’ve mastered your job.
In fact, there’s quite the difference between being successful at something and actually mastering it. And it has a lot to do with if you do something on target once—success—or if you can do it over and over again the right way—mastery.

In this video, Sarah Lewis, the author of The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure and the Search for Mastery and Du Bois Fellow at Harvard, walks us through the differences between the two and tells us about her experience seeing real mastery unfold.


Photo of Kaitlyn Russell
A UNC-Wilmington grad born and raised in North Carolina, Kaitlyn always knew she would end up in NYC to pursue writing. As a summer editorial intern, she contributes career advice to The Muse. In addition, she also writes for other publications, such as USA TODAY College, Her Campus, and The Huffington Post. You can find her searching the city for the best eats, binge-watching Netflix, or catching up with friends at dinner. Say hi on Twitter @KaitlynRussell_
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