Book Review: Mastery by George Leonard
June 7th, 2008 Posted in Book Review, Now, Perspective
Tyler recommended his readers to read this book called Mastery. As with any of his suggestions, I was immediately intrigued to what this book could hold. Tyler talked about how this book clearly lays out his journey from being a social misfit to becoming an extraordinary social presence.
Mastery it seems is quite different from what we are taught in school or at least in American society. It’s always about getting to that next step. First comes high school, then comes college, then comes a job, and then comes retirement. It’s an endless serious of goals that makes up the American dream.
However, there’s a serious problem. I have never seen so many depressed people in my life when growing up in America. I’m not even talking about the ones who are so depressed that they contemplate suicide. The average American truly seems unsatisfied with life.
It doesn’t even matter how many toys someone has. The rich seem even worse because they have everything they could possibly want and they still don’t feel truly alive. A paradox indeed.
So what George Leonard does is lay out a simple way of living life well through offering a different perspective. Maybe this endless series of goals and hurdles isn’t the way it should be. Maybe there is a better way?
He points an interesting fact that most people start a lot of activities and yet never get to the depth of anything. They seem to get to this plateau and since they don’t seem to be improving anymore, they give up or lose interest. However, if they just stuck with it, they would realize learning a skill isn’t a nice upward slope where you get noticeably better every day.
It’s much more like a series of plateaus with sharp increases every so often. The trick George Leonard mentions is to recognize you’re on a plateau and if you keep with it, you will get better. He does a great job explaining this through a series of examples and metaphors.
Once you understand this, you start to appreciate the process rather than the end goal. All your nervousness about the future and past seems to just slip away. You are then really able to focus on the present, which only intensifies your learning.
He uses a lot of examples of his learning of Akido, which is a very difficult martial art. Akido like other martial arts have no final goal to reach. It is an endless journey.
I personally found this book incredibly simple yet profound. Even though I’ve heard many of the concepts before, it is easy to get distracted again by all the noise especially when working on the internet.
Many times, I would have a task such as writing thousands of words on the same topic, and I would find it incredibly irritating after awhile. What I forgot to remind myself is that this is part of my journey, and I can’t avoid it. Why not find the subtle nuances and appreciate the power of words?
Maybe my words will become more satisfying and sweet, which will draw more readers to me and hopefully follow my advice or bluntly, give me an affiliate commission.
If you’ve been frustrated in your inability to get things done even though you’re fully capable of doing so. This book is for you.
I highly recommend this book to just about anyone. For the expert, it is a refresher. For the beginner, it is an awakening. For the master, it is now.
Download Mastery for free from scribd.com.
