Journey

 I wanna talk about a journey. No, not the band.

It's about a journey to get to a destination, that is at least what we usually think.

We start a journey because we want to achieve something.

But in the process the journey teaches us so much more.

What initially gave me the idea to write about this topic, was the book Mastery by George Leonard.

I think this is one of the most simple yet best books I have ever read.

 

One of the most powerful ideas you learn from the book is the process of embarking on a journey.

I read the book a couple of years ago, and kind of forgot about it. But, since two years I keep thinking about it , almost daily.

When you first read it, it is a really big shock. I started getting all these flashbacks of things I did in the past, that were dabbling, You can get very mad or start to laugh at them, because you see the error of your ways.

It can turn you into a huge narcissist, because if you are processoriented instead of results oriented, you can do almost anything.

You start to think you can do anything, which actually is true.

I still to this day find the mastery graph really fascinating.

You can start to practice something, and you suck at it. But, you keep on doing it, because of iron will or because of a feeling. And after a while you get a growth spurt, and then you hit another plateau.

If you keep at it. YOU WILL BECOME GOOD. I don't believe there is such a thing that you are born a master at something.

We are all cut from the same cloth. What a man does another man can do.
According to my experience it is all about mastering consistency.

That is the difference between Lebron James and some amateur basketball player.

The process is a quiet and small process. You take small steps. You hit a flow state which carries you through. It will carry you through the failures.

Ideally, failures should fuel you. It should give you fuel to hit it harder at practice of your chosen art.

A thing which almost is essential for becoming a master at anything is passion.
Passion is extremely important, because it lets you enter a flowstate where you disregard negative experiences and they don't even enter your reality.

Because they don't enter your reality, you don't notice them and you keep on going.
Which results in you getting better at your art.

It's really funny, if you become addicted at practicing mastery at something, you can become addicted at practicing mastery in general.

With anything you start doing, you start practicing mastery.
For me, mastery entails identifying the steps to take to complete a process and to start doing them consciously.

It will give you a huge paradigm shift. You start to notice different things around you.

You can become obnoxious, for instance someone is a football player but is talking about wanting to play more.

You are coming from a paradigm where anything is possible, and you say: Why aren't you playing more?
The person says their reason which you perceive as an excuse.

Because you pretty much perceive anything as an excuse to not take action. You would even ride a bike 40 km through rain to get to the place where you practice your art.

To most people it seems insane. To you those people seem insane.

There is a balance you need to find, you can't force your reality upon them.
It's a paradox, you just need to accept that people will have excuses and sort of ignore it.

If you want to succeed you can't accept it for yourself, that's why it's a paradox.

It is a beautiful process to practice mastery at an art. To be processoriented and not resultoriented.
The result is anticlimatic, it will not give you the satisfaction you think it will. The process and the journey , when you're a master will give you the satisfaction.

All masters love the process and performing the menial tasks more than the result.
That is why they are masters.