The following is a book review I first published on Amazon for the book “Mastery”. I felt like it was written just for me. I have always enjoyed reading the biographies of successful people that mastered their fields of endeavor like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Leonardo Da Vinci and many others. I have read many books that gave me glimpses of the greats and some principles of why they conquered and went beyond levels where many others failed and never were able to break through. This book not only contains a great overview of the biographies of the masters but the step by step principles and concepts that allowed them to over come circumstances that baffled and broke so many others.
This book is a great tool for anyone looking to master their our own field and get the results they are looking for. Of course the price a student who wants to master a field is not cheap but is parallel to the heights they want to reach to.
1. Connect and absorb yourself into the study of your field with an open mind, take it all in, filter what works and how it works as you travel the path.
2. Play to your strengths, you will tend to be good at what you love and are passionate about follow that path so you will have the energy to take you where you want to go. Focus like a laser on exactly what it is you want to accomplish and your ultimate goal.
3. Transform yourself through practice, real focused, in depth, meaningful practice. Push yourself to the edge of your capabilities to continue to improve. Get a feel for doing the work in your field, program your body to just know how to do the basics so you can move on to the next level of creation and advancing.
4. Internalize the details of your field. Study all the past and current masters, study until the voices of the masters become your own internal guides. Absorb the current knowledge of your field of study until it is like a second language you have learned.
5. Widen your vision, take principles that are needed from other fields. Look at problems through every possible angle. Find the groove that you fit into and add value from the view point or angle that best suites your abilities and passions.
6. Find a mentor that is already a master, learn all you can from them until you have integrated all his knowledge and expertise into your own, now take what you have learned from him and go to the next level with your own lifetime of work. Stand on the shoulders of giants.
7. Be wise in all your social dealings to make needed allies not enemies.
The pursuit of mastery is one of the most exciting journeys anyone can go on. This book takes you on that journey many times with many masters throughout history with all different disciplines and fields, you see what it takes. Along the way it also gives the reader a map to follow if we choose to go on our own quest of mastery.