Mastery The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment

Loved it. Will likely reread sometime this year.

Except for the penultimate chapter where a partner is required to do aikido shit, the book is an absolute gem full of actionable, practical, and useful advice. I will highly recommend it. I do not like self-help books generally, but this was a wild exception. I am glad that I picked this book up. I am already applying advice learned from this book in my life, and they are already proving to be useful. Give it a try. What's better with this book, and why this book deserves a 5 star is that this book did not walk the path of other self-help books where a simple blogpost or two is shamelessly inflated to be a 300-page book, and wasting everyone's time. This book is very short and concise. You will be able to finish it in no time and be able to apply lessons learned to your life and journey towards mastery.

What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path. To me, this book reads like a love letter — a love letter to the act of committing oneself to life-long learning of a skill. Of course, we all know the adage about practice and perfection; we don't need a book to remind us that practice is the only way to mastering a skill. But while that is essentially what Leonard tells us — over and over again, phrasing it and rephrasing it within various contexts — he does it beautifully, with great respect toward the act of learning and a sense of passion that is infectious. Had I read this as a practical guide on how to achieve mastery with skills of my own, I would likely have found this book lacking in value and/or substance. But I went into this with an open mind and quickly realised: this is me, learning about 3D modelling; losing myself in the world of 3D graphics and its immense potential when it comes to creating art; trying to learn everything at once and struggling with the urge to quit when I inevitably encounter obstacles. This is me picking up calisthenics/strength training: experiencing elation when succeeding with goals; feeling dispirited, frustrated when there seems to be no sign of progress. This is what Leonard writes so eloquently about: appreciating the plateau. When you are on the path of mastery, the plateau is inescapable; a necessity, even. What is mastery if not finding pleasure in the small, day-to-day acts of practice, even when progress seems slow or nonexistent? If the skill is something you love, is it not reasonable to expect you'll find value and excitement even in the simplest, most rudimentary parts of it? He writes: 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 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. So much of his writing resonated with me, and reminded me why I picked up learning 3D modelling at all, for example. His explanations shed new light on the skills I've been trying to develop/hone, reminding me to see them for the joy and excitement they bring me in the present, independent of far-away goals and greater ambitions. As for my lukewarm rating of 3-stars: while I connected with this book sort of on an emotional level, it was still attempting to be a guide. The final portion, titled 'Part Three: Tools For Mastery', is dedicated to providing, well, more concrete tools, on one's journey to achieving mastery; there is also a chapter describing various mind-body exercises. I mostly skimmed these parts, because I didn't find them directly useful or interesting. Had I not been able to relate Leonard's writing in the first two parts of the book to my own personal experiences with skills (?) that I am actually passionate about mastering, I might have appreciated this slightly less. I think a reader's experience with this book depends largely on how strongly they feel about the topic of this book, and whether they have a skill/interest to relate it to.

HonestIy, I was only drawn to the Aikido on the cover. In short, Mastery is self-discipline and control. Nothing you can achieve without practice (Dao,Do). One of the essential learnings that one has to bear in mind about mastering anything, is shifting your attention to the process of amelioration, not the goal-oriented setup. For instance, instead of focusing on becoming the 1st champion in say tennis, do not focus on the outcome but appreciate the process the journey of practice. "Our preoccupation with goals, results, and the quick fix has separated us from our own experiences." Teaching beginners: the best way for a master to re-learn and discover more about his art. And thisin fact I tried, even if it was a short experience. Teaching beginners ukemis (falls), made me realize few errors I wasn't aware of while rolling. 5 Guidelines to deal with homeostasis: 1- Be aware of the way homeostasis works.(when the alarm bell is ringing); some people will undermine your self-improvement, they don't wish you harm but the system is changing.. 2- Be willing to negotiate with your resistance to change (be aware of warnings though).. 3- Develop a support system (the best way is to share it with people who have gone through or are going through their own processes of change (sports, arts and crafts..)..- Homo-luden 4- Follow a regular practise: practise is a habit. A stable base during times of instability.. 5- Dedicate yourself to life long learning (Body, books or behaviour) ( Learning how to learn : change).. Getting energy from mastery: 1- Maintain physical fitness; 2- Ackonwledge the negative and accentuate the positive; 3- Try telling the truth : clarity creates energy (Obviously, you should - Corporate Side effects : Shorter meetings, increased productivity,..); 4- Honour but don't indulge your dark side; (Channel that energy to work furiously on your favourite project) 5- Set your priorities: "better make a wrong choice than none at all"; (Checklists!) 6- Make commitments, take action; gift of a supposed dealdine, make it public if you can, to help you stay committed. Boldness has genius and power in it. 7- Get on the path of mastery and stay on it. "Getting on the path is easy, staying on it is challenging." Pitfalls of Mastery: 1- Conflicing way of life - "Never marry a person who is not a friend of your excitement"; 2- Obssessive Goal orientation - Modest expectations instead; 3- Poor instruction - depends as much on the student as on the teacher; 4- Lack of competitivness - winning is essential but not the only thing on the journey for mastery; 5- Overcomptetivness; 6- Laziness; 7- Injuries - if the path is a physical one, negotiate with your body, being cautious and conscious; 8- Drugs - :3 Obvsly; 9- Prizes and Medals - Excessive external motivation, the ultimate reward is the ath itself; 10- Vanity - must beb ready to look like a fool; 11- Dead-seriousness - Grimmness, self importance; 12- Inconsistency - flexibility of startegy and actions; 13- Perfectionism - High standards. "At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path."

This is a great book because it's short, concise, friendly, and practical. It's a simple guide to mastery, only the parts you need to know about: keys to success, common tools and techniques, how to get energy to stick with it, and common pitfalls. The main concept is that mastery only exists in the present, and is a lifelong journey. The path and the mastery are one and the same. To be a master you live for practice and love the game. There are no quick fixes — that mentality doesn't work in the long run and is eventually destructive to the individual and society. The long road of lifelong learning and improvement is the better way. My favorite quote: "The essence of boredom is to be found in the obsessive search for novelty. Satisfaction lies in mindful repetition, the discovery of endless richness and subtle variations on familiar themes." Highly recommended.