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Mastery Summary
Mastery Summary
Mastery Summary
All you need is devotion and patience while following a specific set
of already established steps.
Needless to add, novices who have never even walked this path are
even more advised to add “Mastery” to their must-read lists. The
same holds true for anyone who knows not what to do with his or
her life – and believes that his best years for learning are behind
him/her.
“Mastery Summary”
Contrary to what you may believe, the extraordinary
accomplishments of many great names you have heard about, are
not a result of inborn talent.
In fact, there is no proof that talent and mastery are linked in any
way.
So what are the steps that ordinary people can take to become
masters in a specific field?
The great masters that historical books talk about nowadays have all
followed a similar pattern of development.
Each of them discovered their passion and interests, engaged in
apprenticeship, developed their imagination and creativity, and then
achieved mastery.
The good news: modern masters needn’t do anything else but the
masters of the past.
If you have a feeling that some discipline was just made for you and
that your destiny is to create a name for yourself in that field, trust
that feeling.
But what if you are not able to hear that inner voice?
When you were a child, you knew nothing about the world and you
needed your parents to show you the way.
And when we say nothing, we are talking about that one time you
wanted to put your fingers in the power socket just beacuse there
were two holes in it!
Well, the same is true for “the adult novice you” as well – regardless
of whether it comes down to much more delicate things such as
playing the piano or scientific endeavors such as neuroscience.
“The greatest mistake you can make in the initial months of your
apprenticeship,” writes Greene, “is to imagine that you have to get
attention, impress people, and prove yourself. These thoughts will
dominate your mind and close it off from the reality around you.”
The point?
To quote Greene:
And this is where your mentor walks in, possibly world-weary, but all
wise and brilliant nevertheless.
Well, your mentor has been there, done that. And he’ll tell you not to
do it.
Routines are for the ordinary; challenges are for the outstanding.
But after the passive and practice mode, comes finally the active
phase: experimentation. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for.
Start doing things your way.
Instead, we try hard to blend in, hoping that following the crowd will
keep us away from trouble.
Finding a Mentor
Learning new things is a difficult task.
A mentor is someone who guides you and shows you how you can
use your skills and time better.
You are not the only one benefitting from such a relationship – the
mentor does too.
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“Mastery” Quotes
The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine
them in creative ways.
Namely – that masters are made, not born, and that you need
10,000 hours and a good mentor to become one yourself.
It’s quite easy tfrom thereon: just start walking the path to mastery.