Shane Parrish writes at Brain Food, “Moments don’t make legends. Consistency does. And the hardest consistency isn’t in doing brilliant things but avoiding stupid ones. Every mistake puts you in hard mode, forcing you to make up lost ground.”

In some lines of work, a person must go through an apprenticeship that takes years—even a decade—before they are qualified to practice as a professional. They become excellent by learning to avoid stupid mistakes. 

Sometimes, this process includes making the mistakes in a controlled setting in the first place, facing the consequences, and correcting it. This long, focused, training is the foundation for consistency. 

There’s no shortcut to mastery; it requires a longcut. The long way is the short way. It’s the only way.