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1-Page Summary of Mastery
Overview
Many people think that the great masters of history, like Da Vinci and Mozart, were born with natural talent. However, this is not true. In fact there’s no link between inborn talent and mastery of a skill or field.
Studies show that many young children have a lot of talent, but few of them ever go on to do great things. However, those who don’t seem particularly gifted often accomplish more than their talented peers.
For instance, Charles Darwin was an ordinary boy and his cousin Francis Galton was a genius. However, it’s the latter who is considered as the superior scientist. What differentiates them? The secret to mastery lies in whether you’re gifted or not. It doesn’t matter how smart you are; anyone can become a master if they take certain steps to improve their skills.
Every great master throughout history has followed a similar path: they discovered their field, had an apprenticeship, developed a creative and open mind, and achieved mastery.
Modern masters also follow the same steps. For example, professional boxer Freddie Roach wanted to become a great boxer and apprenticed himself with Eddie Futch, who was considered one of the best boxing trainers at that time. He then created his own unique fighting style and is now known as one of the best boxing trainers in his generation. People don’t need to be born with talent or gifted intelligence to become masters; they just have to find their field of interest and follow the same steps taken by previous masters in that field.
Big Idea #1: Each of us has an inner calling which guides us towards our vocation in life – a discipline or field that we wish to master.
Have you ever felt that a particular field or career was made just for you? Trust your feelings! You are unique, and no one else is exactly like you. Each of us has DNA, which makes each person different from anyone else in the world. So why don’t we all act differently?
People want to fit in and be like everyone else, so they suppress their individuality.
While it might be useful to adopt a disguise and hide our uniqueness, in fact it’s our uniqueness that drives us to find out what we want to do with our lives. Many of history’s most famous geniuses had this moment when they suddenly knew what their life was about. They felt like something guided them towards their field throughout their entire lives. Leonardo Da Vinci had such an experience when he stole paper from his father’s office so that he could draw animals in the forest after school.
For some people, they experience an “inner voice” that tells them to pursue a specific task. This is the case for profoundly religious Christians who hear God’s voice telling them what to do in their lives.
Instead of trying to fit in with the crowd, recognise that you’re unique and that you have a specific calling. You can find your calling by listening to – and following – your inner voice. In this next section, we’ll look at how to do that.
Big Idea #2: Your main goal in a new field should not be immediate success or money, but to learn as much as possible.
When people look for a way to get into a particular field, they often search for positions with the most prestige and financial rewards.
However, the real reward comes from learning new skills and gaining experience. You will have opportunities to learn in your early jobs that you won’t get later when you’re being paid more. These experiences will benefit you for a long time to come.
Consider boxer Freddie Roach. He chose to work at a boxing center for free, and he developed his skills there. Ultimately, that decision paid off because he earned more money as a boxer than if he had taken another job early on in life. Many other masters made the same choice in their youth; Charles Darwin also rejected both medical school and a well-paid position in the church so that he could be an unpaid naturalist on the HMS Beagle where he studied exotic plants and animals. The observations from this voyage helped him develop his famous theory of evolution later on in life.
