How to Get Good at Something by Treating It Like an Apprenticeship

I think a lot about what it actually takes to get good at something.

Years ago, Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea of the 10,000-hour rule, the notion that mastery comes from time and repetition. Whether or not that number is exact, it gave people a framework. It helped normalize the idea that becoming skilled usually takes longer than we want it to.

But long before frameworks and buzzwords, there were apprenticeships.

If you wanted to become a printer, a stone mason, or a shoemaker, you didn’t experiment casually. You committed. You spent years learning the fundamentals before anyone trusted you with real responsibility. The expectation wasn’t speed, it was competence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsMfr6DiSmM

A picture of my mom's legendary tamales. True mastery!

That idea has been on my mind a lot lately.

I think about Benjamin Franklin, who apprenticed as a printer long before he became known for anything else. Or more recently, the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which follows a sushi master whose entire life was built around repetition, discipline, and showing up the same way every day. His apprentices reportedly spent years focused on a single task before moving on to the next.

That level of commitment is hard to imagine today.

If someone told you that to get good at your craft you would need to spend years working on the basics before touching the more interesting parts, how many people would stay? Most wouldn’t. I’m not sure I would either.

But those examples make something clear.

When we talk about how to get good at something, we often skip over the apprenticeship phase. We want results, recognition, or momentum early. We want to move ahead before the foundation is really there.

I’ve noticed this contrast in my own work.

I’m very much a one-tab person. Podcasting is my craft. It’s the thing I keep returning to, refining, and thinking about over the long term. That focus has brought relationships, opportunities, and a sense of satisfaction that comes from staying with something long enough to understand it well.

Looking at my work through the lens of an apprenticeship takes pressure off. Even years in, I still see myself as learning. There’s always another layer to improve, another skill to sharpen, another way to get better at the work itself.

That perspective matters.

Not everyone wants to be the best in the world at what they do, and that’s fine. Quality of life, balance, and personal priorities all matter. But even within those boundaries, there’s value in being honest about where you are in your own development.

Are you still learning the basics?Are you building judgment over time?Or are you moving on as soon as something starts to feel slow?

Treating your work like an apprenticeship doesn’t mean obsessing or burning out. It means respecting the time it takes to build real skill. It means accepting that improvement usually comes from repetition, patience, and staying engaged longer than most people are willing to.

If you’re early in your journey, this perspective can be freeing. You don’t need to rush outcomes. If you’re further along, it can be grounding. You can recognize what you’ve already earned and where you still want to improve.

So if you’re thinking about how to get good at something, my encouragement is simple.

Stay with the work.Learn the fundamentals.Give yourself time to develop judgment.

Treat what you’re building like an apprenticeship, not a shortcut.