# Mastery - the Keys to Success (book) ## ✒️ Note-Making ### 🔗Connect ⬆️Topic:: [[Mastery]] ### 💡Clarify 🔈 *Summary of main ideas* 1. **Mastery is a long road** - it takes time and effort to reach mastery, and it involves "surviving" through long periods of plateau where improvement is non existing 2. **Always be a student** - we fall off the road to mastery once we decide that we have nothing more to learn. Always be curious and open for learning. ### 🗒️Relate ⛓ *by following this method, what will happen? What is the goal of this book?* We would not quit while experiencing a plateau because we know it is part of the journey to mastery. ### 🔍Critique ✅ *relevant research, metaphors or examples that helps to convey the argument* ❌ *the logical jumps, holes or simply cases where it is wrong...* 🧱 *Implementations and limitations of it are...* ### 🗨️Review 💭 *my opinions on the book, the writers style...* Another "meh" book, perhaps a representation of how books were like before the information age, where editing was scarce. It is a simple, slightly inspirational, and shallow book. ### 🖼️Outline ## 📒 Notes ### The Masters Journey #### Introduction Mastery begins with learning the most basic of skills. #### What is Mastery The road to mastery is long and unrewarding. Early on you would reach a plateau which seems like mastery is unreachable or so far into the future (Reminds:: [[non linear]]). Training would be hard and you will feel like you're making zero progress. While we all have the potential for greatness (Aka:: [[practice beats talent]]), it is those with (Aka:: [[Grit]]) that stay on the frustrating long path to mastery that achieve it. It is long because it takes a lot of time to (Jump:: [[Habit formation|Habituate]]) a skill, to make it automatic which allows us to advance to the next skill. > [!Quote]- What Is Mastery? > - mastery isn’t reserved for the supertalented or even for those who are fortunate enough to have gotten an early start. It’s available to anyone who is willing to get on the path and stay on it— ([Location 132](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=132)) > - How do you best move toward mastery? To put it simply, you practice diligently, but you practice primarily for the sake of the practice itself. Rather than being frustrated while on the plateau, you learn to appreciate and enjoy it just as much as you do the upward surges. ([Location 249](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=249)) #### Meet the Dabbler, the Obsessive, and the Hacker There are three types of learners: 1. **The dabblers** - easily distracted by (Jump:: [[shining new thing|novelty]]), they start something new and quit once a plateau is reached, because it's "not for them". They lack the patience necessary to withstand the plateau. 2. **The obsessive** - They have to be the best. Every time they hit a plateau they double down their efforts in attempts to shorten or bypass it. In the process, they burn resources and prioritize short-term gains over long-term development. 3. **The hacker** - They stay on the plateau because it's comfortable, they don't have the energy to do what it takes to start something new or advance beyond the current plateau. #### America's War against Mastery Today's (Aka:: [[Attention Economy]]) is based on selling us short-term gains, causing us to be (Jump:: [[Present Bias|Short term biased]]), and (Related:: [[Hedonism|hedonistic]]). We believe in immediate gratification, which goes against the long hard road to mastery. #### Loving the Plateau Life is a journey, not a destination. We will spend most of it on a plateau, so we should learn to love it. Not the highs of success, not the lows of defeat. The "normal", "plain" moments of practice when no one is watching, when it's just you and your art, with a calm serene smile. > [!Quote]- Loving the Plateau > - the real juice of life, whether it be sweet or bitter, is to be found not nearly so much in the products of our efforts as in the process of living itself, in how it feels to be alive. ([Location 418](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=418)) > - Practice, the path of mastery, exists only in the present. You can see it, hear it, smell it, feel it. To love the plateau is to love the eternal now, to enjoy the inevitable spurts of progress and the fruits of accomplishment, then serenely to accept the new plateau that waits just beyond them. To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life. ([Location 511](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=511)) ### The Five Master Keys #### Key 1 - Instruction It's hard and wasteful to reinvent the wheel. There's no better form of learning than seeking a (Jump:: [[Mentor]]), because of their ability to provide accurate detailed (Jump:: [[Feedback]]). Remember that it's easy to coach the best. Most of us, and most of the students are not born talented, and not fast learners. Therefore a good mentor is one with (Jump:: [[Patience]]). > [!Quote]- Key 1: Instruction > - Knowledge, expertise, technical skill, and credentials are important, but without the patience and empathy that go with teaching beginners, these merits are as nothing. ([Location 568](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=568)) #### Key 2 - Practice Practice, practice, practice, and love doing so. > [!Quote]- Key 2: Practice > - At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path. ([Location 774](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=774)) #### Key 3 - Surrender Have a (Jump:: [[Beginner's Mind]]). Don't think you know more than your master, or that you're above practicing the basics. > [!Quote]- Key 3: Surrender > - Satisfaction lies in mindful repetition, the discovery of endless richness in subtle variations on familiar themes. ([Location 797](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=797)) > - For the master, surrender means there are no experts. There are only learners. ([Location 852](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=852)) #### Key 4 - Intentionality Using (Jump:: [[Mental Representations]]) helps your performance. It prepares the body for the upcoming activity. #### Key 5 - the Edge Don't stay in your comfort zone, push beyond your limits. ### Tools for Mastery #### Why Resolutions Fail and what to Do about I (Jump:: [[balance extremes|Homeostasis]]) is not just for our temperature, it's for our behavior as well. As we try something new, it will resist back, trying to maintain the status quo. It will be a step forward step backward kind of thing when we try to get back up on the path to mastery. But, with time our "benchmark" will change to this new way of living, making the master's path the default. #### Getting Energy for Mastery How can we find the energy to follow through with our choices? Energy is a matter of momentum. The more we do, the easier it is to continue doing it. We can also increase our energy capacity by working out and being optimistic. Lastly, we need to choose a direction to follow, a goal, and be immersed in it. To convert any "negative feelings" that arise from the challenges along the way to fuel for our journey (Aka:: [[Emotional Aikido]]) #### Pitfalls along the Path Don't focus on your target, on being perfect, or on your ego. Nothing else matters except staying on the path. To focus on the very next step, be consistent with practicing without distractions. > [!Quote]- Pitfalls Along the Path > - mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. ([Location 1312](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=1312)) > - The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives. ([Location 1313](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01ND0X91Y&location=1313)) #### Mastering the Commonplace Even the most boring chores should be treated as an art. Doing the dishes is not an *in in-between* time in life. It is part of life itself. You should be "awake", and intentional, focusing on what you're doing and trying to do it well. #### Packing for the Journey He demonstrates how physical exercises can give us balance and calmness, while also showing that mental and physical concepts are connected. #### Epilogue Always be a student