Brian Johnson explores whether you're actually willing to pay the price of mastery, drawing on Epictetus and George Leonard's Mastery. Before committing to a serious project, he says, deliberate carefully: dabbling and obsession are both traps. If you won't pay the price, reset your expectations instead.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. In our last several plus ones, we've been chatting about some stoic wisdom from A.A. long's great book on Epictetus wisdom called how to Be Free. Today we're going to wrap up our exploration of some of my favorite big ideas from his great little book.
Let's get straight to work. Professor Long quotes Epictetus, who tells us, do you want to win at the Olympics? I do too, of course, because it's a splendid thing. But examine the project from start to finish and only go in for it. After that. You must train, keep a strict diet, stay off pastries, submit to a regular exercise regimen each day, summer or winter. Drink no cold water and no wine.
Except at appropriate times.
In other words, you have to surrender yourself to the trainer, just as you.
Would to your doctor.
Epictetus continues by saying, when you have thought about this, go and compete if.
You still want to.
But if you don't think, first you will be acting like children who play at wrestling for a while, then it being gladiators, then trumpeters, and then stage performers. That's what you are like too. Now an athlete next to gladiator, then an orator, now a philosopher, but nothing.
In yourself as a whole.
You are like a monkey mimicking whatever you see as one thing after another takes your fancy. You haven't pursued anything with due consideration.
Or after thorough review.
You mess about and don't put your heart into things. I love Epictetus intensity.
That passage reminds me of George Leonard and some of his wisdom from his.
Great book Mastery, in which he talks.
About something very similar.
Check out the notes Leonard tells us.
And I quote him.
We all aspire to mastery, but the path is always long and sometimes rocky, and it promises no quick payoff. So we look for other paths, each of which attracts a different person. The other paths, well, he tells us that we can be a dabbler going from thing to thing to thing, or an obsessive going way too perfectionistically hard.
And burning ourselves out.
Or a hacker being content to perform at a mediocre level. The master knows the price she'll need.
To pay, decides to pay it, and.
Then gets to gritty work. Woop. And the science of making our dreams a reality come to mind as well. Note. Check out this plus one on Woop. There it is. Got it. Linked. And our notes on Gabriel Oettingen's Rethinking Positive Thinking. For more.
Seriously, check those out.
They're some of my all time favorite.
Go to wisdom gems on this subject.
Know this. When we get clear on what we want and have the discipline to rub that ideal vision up against reality, and before we get going, we can make an honest appraisal of whether or not we're willing to pay the price, if not all good, to set a new, more realistic target.
And that's today's plus one.
What do you want and what price will you need to pay? Get clear and get busy crushing it with a smile. Very importantly, with a smile today.
