Big Idea Daily | Mastery
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The Key to Success and Long-Term Fulfillmentby George Leonard |
“Perhaps the best you can hope for on the master’s journey, whether your art be management or marriage, badminton or ballet—is to cultivate the mind and heart from the beginning and at every stage along the way. For the master, surrender means there are no experts. There are only learners.”GEORGE LEONARD |
BIG IDEA
Dabbler, Obsessive & Hacker
FROM THE BOOK“We all aspire to mastery, but the path is always long and sometimes rocky, and it promises no quick pay off.
So we look for other paths, each of which attracts a different person.”
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Brian's Notes
And those three other paths?
The Dabbler. The Obsessive. And the Hacker.
- The Dabbler: Gets really into something for awhile and loves the quick results but the moment things fade, he/she’s off to the next new thing—rationalizing that it just wasn’t a good fit. Hence, no mastery.
- The Obsessive: A bottom-line type of person who wants to get the tennis stroke right on the first lesson and, when results start to slow, pushes even harder to make it work, ignoring the fact that plateaus are part of the path of mastery—pushing and pushing mercilessly to create a continuing upward curve. Then? A sharp, sharp decline. Hence, no mastery.
- The Hacker: After sort of getting the hang of something, the hacker is content to stay at a plateau—never really improving his skills beyond the first basic level. Hacking, hacking hacking. Hence, no mastery.
You can find these three alternatives to mastery in work, sport, and relationships. Where do you show up? Can you think of some examples of how you may have shown up as a Dabbler, Obsessive or Hacker? In your career? In your hobbies? In your relationships?
(In my non-mastery detours, I’ve mastered the Dabbler persona—in hobbies (tennis, golf, martial arts, yoga, triathlon, etc.), relationships, creative projects, etc. I’m all about it until the initial buzz wears off and the “work” begins. You? :)
Big Ideas
01: DABBLE/OBSESS/HACK
02: DILIGENCE
03: LOVING THE PLATEAU
04: PRACTICE AS A NOUN
05: SURRENDER
“At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.”GEORGE LEONARD |
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