How to fast track mastery
I’m always on the lookout for ways to make it easier and faster to help people master the art of problem solving. My thinking is, if we can use strategies to cut learning time down, more people will become better at problem solving faster and make the world a far better place sooner. Win win for everyone.
I was introduced to author Robert Greene while listening to a Tim Ferriss podcast. Greene has written six international bestsellers, including: The 48 Laws of Power, The 33 Strategies of War and Mastery.
In his book Mastery, Greene provides a breakdown of the six key steps to achieve mastery in any field. Here’s a short summary of these steps:
Discover your reason – pursuing mastery of anything takes time and motivation. Finding your why, your reason for beginning a journey towards mastery, is the key first step. Looking inwards is the way to do this. Connect what you really want out of life with the thing you want to master.
Undertake an apprenticeship phase – Adopt a learning mindset from the beginning. Mastery of anything takes time for the mind and body to synch is a way that doing what you want to master becomes effortless. You first step to fast tracking mastery is to find people that have the skill you want and focus on learning from them.
Find the right mentors – Mentors are a proven way to short cut your path to mastery. Find good ones to help guide and challenge you. People you connect with emotionally and have the mastery you desire to fine tune your learning.
Cultivate your social intelligence – Regardless of the skills you are trying to master, spend time developing your social intelligence. Your ability to navigate smoothly through the social environment creates more time and energy to devote to learning and acquiring your desired new skills. Focus on practicing empathy, learn to distinguish ‘takers from givers’ and how to protect yourself while you’re in the vulnerable apprenticeship phase from being taken advantage of.
Unlock your creativity – Take the ideas you’ve learned in your chosen field and expand your perspective to others that could offer something new. Here is where you start to spread your wings to create things new and unique. Don’t let the voices of fear or negativity stop you from taking these bold steps. These are the steps that move you from slow learning to accelerated mastery.
Fuse the intuitive with rational – Your path to mastery is complete where you can fuse the intuitive with the rational, where your prior practice and knowledge combine to create flow states that allow you to more productive and value creating with your new skills. You are now the master with unique skills and perspective to share with the world.