Mastery in a veteran often looks like what a rookie would do, but for a reason you may not see.

Early in your career, the job feels simple. Basic skills, clear actions, and effort. You stretch lines, force doors, search buildings, and focus on doing the task the way you were taught. There aren’t many layers yet, just execution.

Then experience and training pile up. Those same tasks become wrapped in terminology, acronyms, options, and “high-speed” tactics. That phase is necessary. Complexity is how we grow, how we become better firefighters and officers.

The problem begins when complexity gets mistaken for competence.

On the fireground, more steps and more words rarely produce better outcomes. What looks simple could be mastery earned through experience.

Complexity is a phase of learning, not the destination.

True mastery is the ability to strip a problem down to what actually matters and act decisively on it. Professionals don’t eliminate knowledge; they filter it. They know what to ignore just as well as what to apply.

For firefighters: don’t confuse complexity with competence. Learn the layers, but practice returning to fundamentals.

For officers: your job isn’t to display everything you know. Your job is to give clear priorities and simple direction.

This month, take one skill or tactic and strip it down to the essentials only. Ask yourself: What is the simplest action that actually solves this problem efficiently?