The document discusses the concept of mastery, including what it is, why it is important, and how to achieve it. It defines mastery as having an intuitive understanding and extraordinary ability in an area through combining instinctive and rational thought. It says mastery leads to happiness, power, and the ability to influence and achieve goals. The document advocates finding an inner calling, then learning through apprenticeship over 5-10 years. This involves deep observation, skills acquisition through practice, and experimentation. It provides examples of achieving mastery through apprenticeship in various fields like engineering, teaching, and sports.
4. What is Mastery?
• Knowing an aspect of reality in intricate detail
• Developing an intuitive feel for reality
• Combine instinctive and rational thought into
intuition
• Extraordinary creative ability
5.
6. What is Mastery?
• Ideas come out of thin air
• Ideas come when you are not even
thinking about problem
• You can work faster and achieve more
15. Why Mastery?
• Mastery is Happiness
• Mastery is Power
• Ability to influence
• Ability to achieve
• Ability to change things
• Not limited by conscious thought
25. Apprenticeship
• Choose places of work and position that offers
greatest possibilities of learning
– Not bookish theory, practical knowledge!
• Do not chose an apprenticeship that is easy
and comfortable
27. Deep Observation
• Observe & Understand: Rules & Procedures
• No task is menial
• Like a hunter in a new jungle – Gather every
detail of the forest and the ecosystem
28. Skill Acquisition
• Mirror Neurons: watch and imitate
• Practice and Repeat!
• Cycle of accelerated returns
– Ability to practice for longer hours
• Aim:
– Hardwiring of skills
– Become one with the machine
29. Skill Acquisition
• Focus on one skill at a time
• Practice is boring: Do not get tired!
• Once actions become automatic – Collect
feedback and Analyze!
– Weaknesses
– Be self-critical
• Aim higher, Improve Qualitatively!
30. Transformation
• Intense Practice Transforms
– Hard work
– Painful to mind and body
– Elements become automatic and easier
– Mind totally absorbed in practice
– Blocks everything out
– Become one with the tool
– Achieve Tacit Knowledge!
– Revert to a feeling of inferiority
31. Transformation
• Develop Emotionally
• Redefined sense of pleasure
• Develop patience
• Develop confidence in yourself
• Bored? Need new challenge, not distraction
• 10,000 hours – 7-10 years of practice
32. Experimentation
• Take on more responsibility
• Initiative
• Doing work that exposes you to criticism and
failure
• Test your character, move past fears, develop
sense of detachment with work
39. Apprenticeship
• Given side angle
“The layers of paint he applied were exceptionally thin, this
brush strokes invisible. He had gradually added more layers,
each ever so slightly darker than the last. Experimenting with
different pigments, he had taught himself how to capture the
delicate contours of human flesh”
40.
41. Find a Mentor
• Some people know more than you
– Time and experience
• Mentors: streamline but no short-cut
• Provide feedback
• Make practice more efficient
42. Creative Activity
• Combine
– High level of knowledge about a field or subject
– Openness and flexibility to use this knowledge in
new and original ways
– Example: the reverse sweep!
43. Creating Conditions for a
Breakthrough/Insight
• Seek out what is unfamiliar
• Don’t be intimidated by mystery/uncertainty
• Allow for serendipity
– Widen your search
– Relax (play!)
• Drill down: Cycle between speculation and observation
• Shift perspective (eg, what did not happen)
• Think in primitive ways (visually, not linguistically)
• Holistic View – add dimentions
• Internalize all forms of knowledge
44. Breakthrough
• Begin with an intuition
• Broad search followed by narrowing possibilities
• Heighted Focus
• Never Satisfied!
• Process becomes more conscious and less intuitive,
and so dead and stale
• Work even harder!
• Blocked: Creates inner tension and frustration
• Giveup? No!
• Relax, do something else: solution comes to Master
45. Emotional Pitfalls
• Complacency – you know very little
• Conservatism – creativity rather than comfort
• Dependency – high internal standards
• Impatience – “stubborn rigor”, pleasure in pain
• Grandiosity – Remember luck, training, forget ego
• Inflexibility – Adapt. Paradox!
46. Magical Powers
• Can anticipate and predict correctly – Rommel
• Intuitive feel of the whole – Einstein
• Can take advantage of interconnectedness of
things – Gandhi
47.
48. Faraday
• Born in poor family
• Book-binder
• Read books
• Exchanged paid book-binding job for un-paid lab-
assistantship with Davy
• Worked as Davy’s assistant for 10+ years
• Learned on the job under Davy
• Contributed to electromagnetism and
electrochemistry