+1: #455 The Master

You're listening to the Optymyze with Brian Johnson podcast. Unlock the full Optymyze experience and join over 10,000 premium members at Optimize Me. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. George Leonard was an Aikido master who wrote a great little book called Mastery. It's a tiny little book packed with a ton of wisdom. I highly recommend it. But there's one particular passage that's been tattooed on my mind since I read it over a decade ago. We're going to talk about that tomorrow. Today we're going to take a quick look at how Leonard describes mastery and the other paths that can trip us up. First, pop quiz. When you think of the path of mastery and the master who walks that path, what vision comes to mind? How would you describe it? Take a moment and noodle that. All right. Well, here's how Leonard describes mastery. He tells us that we fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It's about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try and and fail and try again for as long as he or she lives. End quote. That's mastery. It's a process. When we commit to the path of mastery, we stay on that path day in and day out, year after year. Which reminds me of Steven Pressfield's wisdom about turning pro and how your life changes the day you truly flip the switch and and go from amateur to professional. So the alternatives to mastery. Well, Leonard tells us we can be what he calls a dabbler or a hacker or an obsessive. Here's the quick look. The dabbler gets really into something for a while and loves the quick results. But the moment the newness fades, he or she's off to the next new thing. Rationalizing that it just wasn't a good fit. Hence, no mastery. The obsessive is a bottom line type of person who wants to get the tennis stroke right on the first lesson. And when the results start to slow, pushes even harder to make it work, ignoring the fact that plateaus are a part of the path to mastery. Then they push and push mercilessly to create a continuing upward curve. What comes from that? Injury, burnout, etc. Followed by a sharp, sharp decline. Hence no mastery. Then we have 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. The master, the dabbler, the obsessive and the hacker. And you, how are you showing up these days? Now, I was going to ask you how you think you can bring a little more mastery to your life, but then I realized I should probably give you Leonard's number one tip first. Here it is. Quote, how do you best move toward mastery? To put it simply, he says you practice diligently, but you practice primarily for the sake of the practice itself. Aha, practice again. So today's plus one, what's the most important thing in your life right now? Perhaps the big three. Check out those plus ones. Part one and part two are linked in the body of the copy of this +1. So what's your daily practice to optimize that most important thing? Or perhaps the big three things? For me, I've got my big three. Energy, work and love for energy. It's my am trail. I never miss a day, my commitment to the practice and mastery. Number two, I have my work, my am deep work. Again, I literally never miss a day, my commitment to the practice and mastery. Then number three, it's the love, which for me the practice is am kid time. Now, I too often miss a day here. Although my shutdown complete is pretty legit, this still needs work and is being reinstalled. How about you, number one, Energy. What's your practice? Number two? Work. What's your practice? Number three, Love. What's your practice? Here's to your mastery and the simple practices that keep us on the path. 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