The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do

and the process began as early as age twelve.
After completing the first stage of apprenticeship, the
student, who was now called a “journeyman,” could venture
out and travel to other cities, working on his own. What a
journeyman could not do, however, was take on
apprentices. That right was reserved only for masters. In
many ways, a journeyman was still a student, though now
able to be paid for his work. To be a journeyman meant
applying the techniques your teacher passed down to see if
they worked in the real world. It was a test, to see if you had
what it took to become a master. There was a certain amount
of restlessness to being a journeyman. It meant you hadn’t
found your place in the world yet.
After a season of wandering, a journeyman had to
submit a masterpiece to the local guild. If they found it
worthy, the journeyman could graduate to the title of master,
being accepted into the guild and finally able to take on
apprentices. Then the process would start all over again.
How much time do you think this process of
apprenticeship took? Based on the modern equivalents, we
might guess a few months, possibly even a year or two. Not
even close. Under this system, an apprentice typically
worked for a minimum of seven years before venturing out
on his own. Then he would spend another few years as a
journeyman before finally becoming a master—if he was
worthy. The entire process took about ten years. If you
started training at twelve, that meant you wouldn’t become a
professional until your twenties. And if you started later,