MASTERY AS A WAY OF LIFE

In this week’s newsletter, I explore the concept of Mastery, drawing on the book of this name by George Leonard. It’s a book I read some years ago and have recently revisited in audio form, a perfect companion to a long walk.

There’s much I love about the book and my hope for you is in reading this you will gain insight into the opportunities in your life and work for developing a mindset of mastery in whatever it is you would like to make progress or improvements in.

But what is mastery? Whilst it evades easy definition, this captures its essence:

“Mastery is a process, a journey that involves committing to and staying on a chosen path, towards a mountain that has not summit.”

The journey of mastery begins whenever you start to learn any new skill or set of skills associated with any profession, sport, craft, hobby or act of creation. Opportunities for mastery can also show up in any area of your life – in your intimate relationships, in your communications and even in the most mundane of tasks.

Set out below are seven ideas for bringing more mastery into your life.

1. EMBRACE YOUR INNER GENIUS AND CAPCITY TO LEARN

The starting point is the idea that most people are born as masters of learning, genetically predisposed to start learning to walk and talk, most of us doing so in an encouraging environment surrounded by parents and carers. As we grow and develop however it becomes time for us to make choices about what and where will put our energy and attention into learning.

A recent coaching client recalled their disappointment as a young child when he discovered that she would not be able to master all the different things she was interested in. This created an underlying belief carried into adulthood that committing to one path would mean to sacrifice others, a pervasive form of FOMO that had limited their capacity to go ‘all in’ on anything for any given period of time.

Yes, there are polymaths in the world we can marvel at who speak 10 languages, have a PhD and a black belt in karate and can fly a plane, but they are pretty rare.

In whatever path we choose, the reality is that it take times to develop skill and competency; patience combined with wholehearted commitment are??good companions on the journey of learning and improving. It is worth recalling what it took to develop the skills and expertise that you already have. Indeed we often under-estimate what we can?achieve through patient and dedicated practice, and as Bill Gates said:

“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.”

2. BE AWARE OF THE ANTI-MASTERY MENTALITY THAT PERVADES SOCIETY

What is the opposite of mastery and what gets in the way? Well, look around you. We live in an increasingly faced paced world where everything is about speed and getting somewhere or something as quickly and easily as possible in a culture of what Leonard calls ‘endless climaxes’. Advertising and marketing promise you the rewards – buy X and feel Y. But it’s like an addiction, a scratch that has to be continually itched. We are surrounded by opportunities for quick fixes and shortcuts, but in pursuit of what?

Adopting a mastery mindset is to step off the hedonic treadmill, the endless and fruitless pursuit of happiness through external rewards, status or recognition. As I often write about, when we attach our wellbeing, self-esteem or worth to external achievements we are fighting a war that cannot be won. We will never have or be enough. The principles of mastery invite to take the slow lane and to embrace the path as reward in itself.

3. ARE YOU ALL IN? MEET THE DABBLER, OBSESSIVE AND HACKER

In his book??George Leonard distinguishes between three common attitudes towards attempting to master new skills or challenges—the dabbler, the obsessive and the hacker:?

1.?????The dabbler tries many things, gets improvement, then plateaus and gets bored and tries something new. The dabbler loves the newness, so enthusiasm quickly wanes, with rationalizations. The dabbler might think of themselves as an adventurer, a connoisseur of novelty, but they are probably the eternal kid.?

2.?????The obsessive is purely results oriented. They are inconsistent and when they hit a plateau they quits because the results aren’t increasing linearly. When the obsessive finds themselves on a plateau, they won’t accept it, they redouble their effort. They doesn’t understand the necessity for periods of development on the plateau and can end up in a sharp decline.

3.?????The hacker is content where they are at. They get good, then doesn’t care to continue improving. The hacker is willing to stay on the plateau indefinitely.?

There is nothing wrong with being the dabbler, the obsessive, or the hacker. Everyone is sometimes all of them in different areas of life: a hacker at work, a dabbler in relationships or an obsessive in hobbies and interests, for example. But if you want to become masterful at a certain skill you must stay on the path of mastery.?

Which persona are you closest to — the dabbler, the obsessive or the hacker??

How about those around you in your life?

The fourth approach, choosing mastery, is the surest route to develop our level of skill and proficiency.

4. LOVE THE PLATEAU

Have you ever started a new sport and found yourself achieving good progress and then hitting a plateau, where whatever you do, however much you practice, you just don’t seem to be getting any better?

The reality is that most time spent at a new skill level is spent on a plateau where you do not improve and you can end up feeling frustrated or discouraged. If you are willing to keep practicing, often you will improve a lot, then get a little worse and then hit another plateau. Mastery is recognizing that this plateau is an improvement to your previous plateau and in order to be a master you must practice for the sake of practicing itself.?

Mastery is about loving the plateau.?

Can you find joy in regular practice?

Can you practice for the sake of practice itself, not for reaching a certain level?

What might get in the way of you??learning to ‘love the plateau’?

5. ADOPT A BEGINNER’S MIND

Shoshin is a concept in Zen Buddhism meaning ‘beginner’s mind.’ It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would. The term is especially used in the study of Zen Buddhism and Japanese martial arts.?

I discovered the benefit of adopting Shoshin as a mindset when completing an ICF accredited coach training a few years ago. Despite having 10 years’ experience, I quickly realised that a beginner’s mind would help me see coaching with fresh eyes, not comparing what I already knew about the models, theories and techniques being taught. I learned far more by adopting this mindset, albeit there were some uncomfortable moments learning to ride again. The experience also revealed my blind spots and areas for development, which re-emphasised for me the huge value of humility as a professional value.

I love what is perhaps a fable of the power of a beginner’s mind. The story goes that when Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, was quite old and close to death, he called his students around him and told them he wanted to be buried in his white belt. Whether it is true or not, I find this a humbling reminder that mastery is a mountain with no summit, and surrendering to the process, and what it takes to stay on the path will actually yield greater progress and results in the longer term, albeit bit dips, troughs and setbacks, and of course the inevitable periods of plateau. As Leonard writes:

“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 fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.”?

6. CREATE A POWERFUL AND SUPPORTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

We are programmed to learn from birth to death. Indeed, engaging in lifelong learning can help us feel young and vital. With the internet nowadays we have access to the history of human knowledge and we have at our fingertips a huge range of instruction. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the choice and diversity of learning materials and teachers available. Whether it’s through books, videos, courses, formal training and education or group or individual instruction, immersing and surrounding yourself with what will most help you fully engage in the process of learning on the path of mastery is fundamental.

In the master’s journey of my chosen profession of coaching I’ve invested a huge amount of time, money and energy into being the best coach I can be.??I’ve sought out great teachers and tuition and continue to invest in first class coaching, mentoring and supervision for myself, whilst engaging in communities of practice, peer support and further learning and development. In professional coaching there is a level known as ‘Master Certified Coach’ (MCC), which is available once you have reached 2,500 hours of coaching practice.??Does achieving this credential make you a master? No, it’s simple a way marker along the path of mastery, and as once MCC coach I know said “upon reaching the level MCC I realised I how little I knew and that I was really only just beginning.”

For some this kind of realisation can feel discouraging, but for me, it is a humbling and inspiring truth that I have embraced into how I create myself. This affirmation, as a statement of being, which I recite every day, acts as a reminder of the path I am on:

“I am giant standing on the shoulders of giants, and I am that I learn from anyone and anything.”

Yes, life and our day to day experiences can also be our teachers, as we continue to develop the muscle of learning how to learn.

From here, it is also about practice. Yes we need to ‘practice’ (as a verb) to maintain and develop our skills, but it is the dedication to?a?practice (as a noun) that helps keep us on the path that has no end.

“A practice (as a noun) can be anything you practice on a regular basis as an integral part of your life—not in order to gain something else, but for its own sake... For a master, the rewards gained along the way are fine, but they are not the main reason for the journey. Ultimately, the master and the master’s path are one. And if the traveller is fortunate—that is, if the path is complex and profound enough—the destination is two miles farther away for every mile he or she travels.”?

This is a powerful statement.??Some questions for you:

What areas of your life would you like to create a shift in that you’ve not given enough time and energy to of late?

What would committing to a practice through rituals, dedicated learning time and non-negotiable new habits do for you?

How might your work, your relationships and your hobbies transform through committing to the practice of mastery?

What’s the smallest first step you could take?

7. BE AWARE OF THE PULL OF HOMEOSTASIS

You know that thermostat you have in the house? It’s job is to keep the temperature within a set range, bringing the ambient temperature back to the “homeostatic” point you selected. The human body itself is made up of a hugely complex system of feedback loops to maintain homeostasis.

Creating any kind of change or improvement in our lives requires us to break through the homeostatic status quo. Even if where we are at does not feel satisfying or our current ways of living, behaving and thinking are not serving us, any attempt to change will likely face internal resistance, a natural tug back to how things were.?

“Be willing to negotiate with your resistance to change...the fine art of playing the edge in this case involves a willingness to take one step back for every two forward, sometimes vice versa.”?

How willing are you to go back two steps to go three steps forward?

How can embrace and rise above the internal resistance that will inevitable arise?

My own golf teacher appropriates the Kubler-Ross grief cycle as part of his teaching to help students see that changing engrained habits is a humbling process that can evoke anger, denial, bargaining and even depression before the emergence of acceptance. It’s perhaps rather blunt as a tool, I get it – change can be at times painful, but perseverance and staying on the path will help us achieve the breakthroughs we desire.

What I see in my coaching practice with clients is the internal resistance that can emerge in the form of self-sabotage, with our internal judge and other archetypal patterns (e.g. the perfectionist, the??victim, the avoider) conspiring to tell us lies to convince us that staying as we are (even if we feel stuck) is far safer than venturing on the path of mastery. Indeed, when a client sets ambitious goals, for example in their business or career, a saboteur voice will quickly intervene and ask: what if you fail? Well, on the path of mastery, there is only an opportunity to learn, our identity and self-esteem are not tied to external achievements, recognition or rewards. The path itself is reward in itself.

It is also very worth being aware that homeostasis exists within our wider systems of family, social circles and in the professional arena; you changing and embarking on a journey of mastery can be perceived as a threat. By being aware of homeostasis in our environment we can be alert to the natural resistance that will inevitably arise.

How do you sabotage your efforts to create change? What patterns do you see?

How can you learn to love the inevitable resistance that will arise?

Who’s on your side? Who might not be?

Who would you like to enrol in your new journey as supporter, collaborator, champion, coach, mentor or peer embarking on the same journey?

CLOSING THOUGHTS

In delving into the concept of mastery, what comes to mind is the old adage:

How you do one thing is how you do everything

Is it universally true? No, but what I see in myself and those I work with is that when we adopt a mastery mindset, even the most mundane tasks can be embraced and enjoyed, setbacks in any part of life can be met with grace and humility, and successes and wins can be enjoyed and appreciated but without attachment or great meaning.

The opportunities to practice mastery are EVERYWHERE in our lives: from washing the dishes, to preparing a simple pasta dish, to embarking on a long car journey, to asking a partner or child about their day, to clearing out an old cupboard.??Just look at what you have to get done today in every area of your life – there are endless opportunities to consciously engage and absorb ourselves in what we are doing in any given moment, as opposed to its opposite: mindlessly, absently and automatically.?

I will leave you with this from George Leonard:

“Goals and contingencies are important, but they exist in the future and the past, beyond the pale of the sensory realm. 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 fruits of accomplishment, and to serenely accept the plateau that lies beyond them. To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life.”

I wish you well in whatever path of mastery you have chosen or are embarking on. As the old saying goes:

“Chop Wood, Carry Water.”

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