In this excellent podcast conversation, Brené Brown and Adam Grant discuss the difference between pursuing success and pursuing mastery.
Success is an external motivator – its focus is in how you are received by the world.
Mastery is an internal motivator – its focus is in how you interact with your art.
Success-minded people tend to emphasize their past successes and most impressive knowledge or skills.
Mastery-minded people tend to be flexible, open to new information that might help them improve.
The problem is, sometimes mastery-focused people can seem like they aren’t successful – or aren’t masterful! Their humble, open-minded quest for growth can appear, to the untrained eye, like weakness.
Being mastery-minded isn’t weak. In the long run, it’s the most sustainable way to consistent growth in your art.
If you’re occasionally misjudged because you aren’t displaying yourself as a success-seeker, don’t worry. In the end, you’ll be masterful, and very likely successful, too.