First there is apprenticeship. A period of learning the basics, preferably from a master. Often boring, often hard work, apparently pointless if you don’t understand the process.

Eventually, you move on, the masters think that you have learned enough to be safe, to go and independently continue to develop your skills. This is the journeyman phase, and can last many more years.

Eventually, you may achieve mastery of your chosen craft and are a craftsman. This doesn’t mean you can stop learning, merely that you are at an expert level.

However, within this is the fact that there are levels even in the mastery and many do not make it beyond journeyman.

You can see this is almost any domain, from programming to medicine, artist to bricklayer. There are a multitude of journeymen who can do a good job, competent, safe, knowledgeable. These people will provide the backbone, the core of work. They should be working toward mastery, honing, polishing, reflecting.

But you will know when you meet a true craftsman. There is the extra moment, the way they handle themselves and their tools, the way they can see a problem and frame a solution.

Aim to be a craftsman in all you do, and aim to work with as many craftsmen as you can. Find the best and mirror, watch not just what they do but what they don’t do. How they hold their hands, and how they hold their body. Listen to your own body and see if it is allowing you to do the job as efficiently. If you’re studying a more cerebral skill, such as programming or an art, look at the surrounding inputs, their environment and their basic toolset.

And then realise that that final element is a gift, one that they have succeeded in realising. But realise also that few find that final boundary, any hard work is rewarded.

Work hard, explore the boundaries and maximise your skills.

Optimise the body, upgrade the mind.