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Mastery Is The Key to Leading a Full LIfe (How To Master Anything)
The one phase of mastery you cannot miss
Howie Chan
August 25, 2024
Welcome to Legend Letters - A rebellion against the ordinary, where you redefine success and live your version of legendary.
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HEARTSET
“Everyone holds his fortune in his own hands, like a sculptor the raw material he will fashion into a figure. But it’s the same with that type of artistic activity as with all others: We are merely born with the capability to do it. The skill to mold the material into what we want must be learned and attentively cultivated.”
It’s up to us to shape our lives.
And boy what a life we can shape it to be. But it’s neither a path of comfort nor a path of certainty. The journey through tough times is guaranteed, but not the result. We can only choose to adventure, but not choose how it ends.
So choose to shape it or you can live timidly and stick to the confines given to you by society, by your parents (unknowingly and lovingly) and coast…
However, if you do take the easy route, you might end up in your deathbed realizing you haven’t lived at all.
Watch this 2 min video from the great Les Brown to fire you up.
I truly believe that when we take the journey to master something, it will bring us deep fulfillment, a sense of purpose, and riches beyond our imagination. I’m not just talking about money, it’s the riches in relationships, the riches in experiences, a truly rich life.
“Be so good they can’t ignore you”
So what do all legends have to go through to reach mastery?
What is the path to the top?
Robert Greene, the legendary author of multiple international bestsellers share his learnings from the legends before us about what it takes to achieve mastery.
MINDSET
ON THE PATH TO MASTERY, APPRENTICESHIP IS THE BRIDGE.
After your formal education or when you change careers, acquire new skills, you enter or reenter this phase of your journey.
Apprenticeship can be dangerous - you can succumb to insecurities, embroiled in emotional issues and develop fears you might carry with you for the rest of your life. By following the path established by the great Masters and Legends, you can be better prepared for the creative challenges in this phase.
SKILLSET
Learn the 3 steps of the apprentice phase to emerge closer to mastery.
STEP 1: Deep Observation (Passive mode)
When you enter a new environment, physical or situational, the first step is to observe. The greatest mistake you can make here is to imagine you have to prove yourself, get attention, and impress people. This mindset will cut you off from reality.
Observe these two things:
The rules and procedures that govern success in this world - “this is how we do things here”, both explicit and implicit rules exist. Your job is to suss it out.
The power relationships that exist in the group - who has control, who has influence, who is on the rise, and who is on the decline. You are not there to judge, you are there to understand (you can change things when you have acquired the power to do so, but never at the beginning.)
📖 When Charles Darwin joined the HMS Beagle as an unpaid naturalist, he spent the first few months observing life on the ship and learning the unspoken rules. This approach helped him avoid unnecessary conflicts and be more productive. He applied the same strategy in other communities he encountered, leading him to the profound discovery of evolution.
STEP 2: Skills Acquisition (Practice mode)
This step is critical. The most important thing about skill acquisition is focus and deliberate practice. You might have heard the 10,000 hours rule - please don’t follow it blindly! It’s more nuanced than spending the time in practice, it’s about spending the right kind of time.
Pick 1 skill to work on
Push through the tedious task of practice
Hyperfocus on 1 thing to improve on at a time
Create an exercise or game to improve that thing
Feedback on how you are improving
Repeat
Harry Mack is a legend in the world of freestyle rapping, watch how he explains his method of deliberate practice HERE (2 min 18 seconds)
📖 Magnus Carlson, a world-renowned chess grandmaster, known for being one of the highest-rated players in history, has a remarkable ability to recognize "chunks"—specific patterns of piece arrangements on the chessboard. Experts estimate that top-level players can identify around 300,000 of these chunks. Interestingly, he honed his skills by playing computer chess, which allowed him to engage in multiple games simultaneously. This approach enabled him to learn chunks at a much faster rate than someone relying solely on in-person games, giving him more opportunities to make mistakes and quickly correct weaknesses.
STEP 3: Experimentation (Active Mode)
This is the shortest step, but a very crucial one to exit the apprenticeship phase. Being in active mode means you are creating and putting out your work and your ideas to people. The point is to gauge your knowledge and see if there are still gaps.
Examples of experimentation?
Posting your ideas on social media
Teach someone what you know
Initiate a project and expose it to an audience
Take feedback and criticism and use it constructively.
📖 As Leonardo da Vinci progressed in his studio work for Verrocchio, he began to exert his own style. Using his own ideas to create works that are different, but leverages the skill he has acquired along the way. Much to his surprise, the Master was impressed with his inventiveness, which was an indication that he was near the end of his apprenticeship.
Most people wait too long to start this step for fear of scrutiny.
“Mastery requires endurance. Mastery, a word we don't use often, is not the equivalent of what we might consider its cognate—perfectionism—an inhuman aim motivated by a concern with how others view us. Mastery is also not the same as success—an event-based victory based on a peak point, a punctuated moment in time. Mastery is not merely a commitment to a goal, but to a curved-line, constant pursuit.”
What’s ONE thing you’ll take action on?
For me, it’s being deliberate practice on how I interview people on the Legend Letters podcast (it’s coming soon my friends!) I’ve recorded 6 episodes, and I can’t wait for all of you to hear it.
Live your legend 🤘🏽,
Howie Chan
Creator of Legend Letters
Sources:
EPIC OPPORTUNITIES
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