We admire all the greatest names who did extraordinary things. We also hope our children would one day become genius in some fields. I would like my sons to understand those "geniuses" have one thing in common, Mastery. It’s not that you need to be a genius or something in order to provide the best but only a simple perfection of mastery is all necessary.
Mastery is finding a purpose and strive to achieve it. “The greatest danger is that we give in to feelings of boredom, impatience, fear and confusion. We stop observing and learning. The process comes to an alt.”
I would love myself and my sons to continue growing and learning. As I always say - Never stop living - learn and grow and experience every day.
How to achieve mastery though? Robert Greenes’ book – Mastery, is amazingly written and covers 5 simple ideas or rather the menu to achieve mastery. Talent and high IQ simply cannot define Mastery but the ability to do things patiently and diligently putting enough effort in it.
Over the centuries, people have placed a wall around such mastery. They have called it Genius and have thought of it as inaccessible...But that wall is imaginary…[the] evolution of the brain was designed to lead us to mastery, the latent power within us all.
Robert Greene highlights five main ideas of becoming a Master and this includes:
1. Your life’s task – This is finding your area of focus. In order to find this you have to, connect with your inclinations, avoiding the false path and pick the right career based on the respective inclinations and most of all, focus on the long term. See your career as a journey with up and downs, falls and rises. We all need to look deeply into ourselves and discover the extraordinary part of us. What makes us different from one another?
2. Apprentice – This phase, as Robert Greene explains to us, is that we all must be in this phase. This is where we self-orientate. A stage where we take a break and recollect. Before it is too late you must learn the lessons and follow the path established by the greatest Masters, past and present. To learn from masters through apprenticeship, we require deep observation. Observe and notice every bit and take notes of them all. Master the skills very well and be able to do it to the best. Experiment whatever you’ve learned by trying to do it on your own. And most of all its very important to go beyond them.
3. 20,000 Hrs. – Love your work in order to be able to do it again and again.The task that you choose to work on must have an obsessive element. Like the Life’s. Task, it must connect to something deep within you. But also don’t forget to take breaks. In moments of great tension and searching, you allow yourself moments of release. Think from 5 to 10 years forward. That’s where you will be able to benefit from the idea you are putting forward now. To reach a level of mastery does not require a brain born with an idea but the practice of that idea long enough, 10,000 to 20,000 hours. At this level you will be an expert.
4. Intensity – The time that leads to mastery is dependent on the intensity of our focus. That intensity of the desire to learn brings about adequate intelligence that will push us forward. Every individual in his/her field of expert has that one thing that pushes hard over and over again. Writers have that one main keyword that keeps on repeating to intensify. It may just be a keyword but expresses a special meaning on the piece of writing. Find the right point in your path and stress, keep on stressing to intensify.
5. Social intelligence– Often the greatest obstacle to our pursuit of mastery comes from the emotional drain we experience in dealing with the resistance and manipulations of the people around us. Get that ability to read people and get a feel on how they read and interpret the world. Accumulate an overall patterns of human behaviour that transcend us to individuals, not forgetting the darker part of them. There are numerous strategies of acquiring social intelligence and just to mention but a few, speak through what you do, craft an appropriate persona and most of all, see yourself as other people see you.
Set deadlines if necessary because they are key. The feeling that we have endless time to complete our work has an insidious and debilitating effect on our minds. Our attention and thoughts become diffused. Our lack of intensity makes it hard for the brain to jolt into a higher gear...For this purpose you must always try to work with deadlines, whether real or manufactured.
Depending on your goals, you can conquer and be the best you can be. You will always have the chance to practice wherever you are. Always remember that you are yourself in every moment of your life. Everyone is the same physically but what defines us is the inner quality and the ability to perfect our career through mastery.
I would highly recommend to get a copy of this book for yourself: Mastery by Robert Greene
Another book that is about the same subject is Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard
This is an interesting book that unfolds the keys to mastery that will help you shape your path and become more oriented to what you do and achieve this mastery phase.
The Keys to success according to George Leonard are:
1. Instruction – Finding an expert to learn from. It will enable you to determine important strategies towards your goal. For example the amount of time or energy required to be successful.
2. Intentionality – We should have that vision on what we want to achieve. This will provide a clear layout and intention to make us achieve what we target. If what you want is clear enough, then you will be able to start planning. However, we should not have too much imagination which brings us to the next key. Leonard shares this amazing quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger “All I know, is that the first step is to create the vision, because when you see the vision there -the beautiful vision- that creates the want power, for example, my wanting to be Mr Universe came about because I saw myself so clearly, being up there on stage and winning. ”Have the wanting power. The vision of yourself in a higher ground.
3. Diligence – Do you really want to be the person who gets committed into something fully, achieves, and then lets the whole thing fade again? That way you will never get successful. He says one problem with mastery is obsessive goal orientation. Where we want quick results and fail to focus on the stone we are stepping on. The urge to win disillusions us to the point of forgetting where we are. Another problem is laziness. The problem comes when we stay imagining the goals too much and fail to make even the first step towards it. For every milestone we take towards our goal, we should think the destination is two miles ahead. And that way we keep on pushing harder and more.
4. Practice as a noun – For a master, the rewards gained along the way are fine but they are not the main reason for the journey. Making our life a practice. Becoming the practice itself. This process is never ending. Leonard states that the consistency of practice is the act of master. When we master the art of practice, we get to perfect whatever we have laid forward. Even if it means perfecting to be a better partner in your relationship knowing what are the key elements making a strong relationship. In a game, tennis for example, mastering the moves and tricks.
5. Homeostasis or The edge– Having a homeostatic point is extremely fundamental. Since it enables us to bring back our selves together to that point we need to be. Works like the thermostatic temperature controller which determines the temperature, if too high adjusts by reducing. If too low, increases. That edge is that level where we feel comfortable in. The importance of this is that, we are able to work patiently and diligently forward at positive interval steps. Normally there is that edge we all get to and fail. Failure is normal, appreciate that step, honour it and gather yourself. This point will help you get back to your feet.
6. Pitfalls – There will be unavoidable pitfalls along the way. They are natural. One secret to moving forward, is identifying the stick that tippled you, and using it to remove the other obstacles along the way. “It’s easy to get on the path of mastery but the real challenge lies in staying in it” Leonard points out numerous pitfalls among them is the obsessive goal orientation, explained in the diligence.
7. Surrendering - Surrender to the teaching and demands of the discipline are vital organs of mastery, which guarantees path to success. We should be willing to swallow our pride, and let ourselves look like an idiot. May sound weird but its for learning sake.
8. Getting energy for mastery – Leonard writes “A human being is the kind of machine that wears out from lack of use, there are limits, of course, and we do need healthful rest and relaxation, but for the most part we do gain energy by using energy… it might well be that all of us possess enormous stores of potential energy, more than we could ever hope to use.”
Leonard in his book explains important things which are fundamental keys to mastery. Like getting energy for mastery. Set priorities and make decisions. Decision making is quite vital and not making it drains energy. Here are the variety of tips Leonard offers to get energy:
- Set priorities and make decisions.
- Take action
- Get on the path of mastery and stay on it.
Value learning above everything else. This two books about Mastery have become really great tools that teach a lot about how one can become a master in his/her own field. Both with very important messages that teaches the aspect of defining your path and redefining the limits of your world. From Apprenticeship, long hours of working hard to the value of practice, intentionality and diligence, only one message is passed, to be a master you must consider several ways in order to perfect.
