We have all felt a feeling when a looming crisis or deadline approaches and suddenly creative overdrive kicks in with increased focus
This sensation is mastery, and it can be manufactured! It is not innate, but built
Mastery has three phases: apprenticeship → creative-active → master
Apprentice: more of an outsider and trying to learn as much as we can, but very limited in what we can actually do
Creative-active: we have an inside and comprehensive knowledge of how things work and can start experimenting
Master: have a complete understanding and can manufacture work that is deeply impactful. Intuition is basically controlled
Everyone’s brain has the capability of producing mastery, it just needs to be trained. It is not something given to privileged people
The Evolution of Mastery
Humans became masters of the earth because of:
Powerful visual systems which enabled focus and protected us
A reasoning brain that could override instinct
Social intelligence
We also have a special ability to think inside of something else, so we can anticipate actions. This is what led to mastery in early humans
This changed our relationship with time, as it no longer became an enemy but a friend. The longer we observed, focused and practiced, the more likely we were to succeed
This fundamental human trait is slowly disappearing in a distracted world
Keys to Mastery
If we all have a brain built for mastery, then why is it that so few are able to attain it?
Ex:// Darwin and his younger cousin Galton
Galton was the smarter of the two but never achieved mastery in any field
Darwin happened to follow the track of mastery by finding an outlet for his childhood passion of collecting specimens via the HMS Beagle, then apprenticed and finally started to develop his theory of evolution
He worked harder and faster than Galton and this process only happened because of a childhood inclination towards a subject
Everyone has some sort of unique inclination, but the majority never act too much on it
Masters that we know tend to have a deep and clear calling which they dedicate all their effort towards → can withstand all the pain of the process to become a master
In the past, there wasn’t much career choice, so mastery was a coincidence, hence why there are so few masters
The issue in our modern world is that mastery has been denigrated
Passivity has become a moral stance now. People believe that mastery and power are evil and are skills of the “oppressive hierarchies”
If you listen to those around you, you might lose out on your creative potential and the lack of motivation will catch up to you
Couple keys to mastery:
Attempting to become a master is necessary and positive: it is important to solve the world’s problems
The mind and quality of brain that you deserve depends on the actions you take, not on genetics
Discovery Your Calling: The Life’s Task
The Hidden Force
Talked about the life of Leonardo da Vinci
Was an illegitimate son of a noble and had very little opportunities for education
In his childhood, he used to do a lot of drawings from nature → became apprenticed as an artist
His art was different because he was very rigorous about his work (naturally which took more time) and applied scientific principles
After Lorenzo d’Medici snubbed him for a commission, Leonardo decided to follow his guts and delve in all sorts of subjects (eg. engineering, metallurgy, biology) and became an advisor rather than a someone benefitting from patronage
”Just as a well-filled day brings a blessed sleep, so too shall a well-filled life bring a blessed death” - Leonardo da Vinci
Keys to Mastery
Many masters have confessed an inner force that moves them to do certain things
This particularly manifests during childhood, where we don’t care as much about society
Masters feel this force so strongly they think of it as an inner spirit
The counterforce is societal force which pushes you to do tasks that are more prestigous or pays more
The problem is that counterforce usually overrides the inner force and you tend to hate your career and fall behind. This should be avoided at all costs
Three stages to realizing your Life Task:
First stage: reconnect with your instincts and uniquness
Second stage: Reflect on your career path and continue or redirect
Your work shouldn’t be supporting your happinness for things outside of work. It should be the source of happiness! It should be a vocation rather than work
Third stage: start with a generous home base and begin your journey, experimenting to find your groove
Eventually you will hit upon a niche and you can then move out on your own and become your own master
It will feel like childlike joy and wonder
Your creative skills will come at a premium and you can choose which problems you want to work on
What we lack most in our world is a sense of purpose. Starting the journey will pay off huge dividends
If you allow yourself to learn more about yourself, you will become a master
Strategies for Finding Your Life’s Task
Return to your origins - the primal inclination strategy
Examples:
Albert Einstein was first fascinated with compasses and magnets → evolved into love for hidden forces and fields
Marie Curie was first fascinated by father’s physics and chemistry experiments → evolved into interest of chemistry
Ingmar Bergman was obsessesed over a cinematograph as a child → became a renowned director
Martha Graham witnessed the power of dance in overcoming her issues of conveying her emotions → became a master dancer
Daniel Everett was immersed in Mexican culture and realized love for other cultures → became a world-renowned anthropologist
John Coltrane witnessed power of saxophone music → became a world-renowned jazz artist
Look at the activities that you enjoyed as a kid which were uncorrupted by parents
What did you love to repeat? What subjects did you have an unusual curiosity?
Occupy the perfect niche - the Darwinian strategy
V.S. Ramachandran example: loved collecting things as a child and enjoyed esoteric research → became a doctor → started really specific research on phantom limbs and other anomolous neurological disorders
Yoky Matsuoka example: loved tennis, math & physics at an early age and wanted to create tennis robots → fell into robotics and pursued at Berkeley and MIT → studied neuroscience → became even more specialized and started field of neurobotics
Career world is like an ecological system: the more people in a particular role/space, the harder it is to thrive (have to politick, can’t really spend time to be a master)
A better career strategy is to become very specialized in your career in two different ways:
Ramachandran strategy: start off with a general field and find specializations that are interesting to the point where you are the sole master of your niche
Matsuoka strategy: combine many different fields and create an entirely new and unoccupied niche
Requires patience, but it leads to freedom to roam and pursue whatever you think is right to pursue
Avoid the false path - the rebellion strategy
Mozart example: father forced him to do court music which he despised. He rebelled and started to compose for operas, which is what he became famous for
He recognized that composing is his forte and he wanted to develop this skill
If you choose the career for the wrong reason (eg. prestige, money, owing to parents), you will feel unfulfilled and your work suffers. The attention that you got as a young one gradually wanes because you are not motivated to become the top of the top
Recognize that you are following the wrong path and actively rebel against the forces that have forced you to go asunder in your path
Let go of the past - the adaptation strategy
Freddie Roach example: Freddie didn’t like boxing a lot as a child but some snarky comments from his mom gave him the motivation. He soon retired because he was losing, but then got into the career of coaching and became an all-star boxing coach using new techniques
Don’t be stagnant or loyal to a particular career or company. Your Life Task can change and you should be willing to adapt
You shouldn’t look with remorse when things try to change. Move on, be fluid and see if you can use your past in your new Life Task
Find your way back - the life-or-death strategy
Buckminister Fuller example: was a great inventor in his childhood → lost his way in adulthood and started a failed construction business → about to commit suicide but chose to continue → became a master & innovative architect
Takes a lot of work to come back from a failed path onto the Life Task, but it is fully worth
Reversal
Some people are faced with their limitations and never feel a calling. People surrounding them will tell them they have no purpose and if not careful, this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy
Temple Grandin example: born with autism and faced a huge amount of challenge. Had a gift with empathizing with animals. Went to university → learned some engineering → made a career out of building ranch machines that were efficient and humane to animals. Now a prof
Ignore your weaknesses and focus on your simple strengths without thinking too much about the future to re-establish confidence. Remove the desire to be like others
Don’t feel concerned about those who are naturally smart. It’s often a curse because they don’t learn about the power of diligence and focus
Submit to Reality: The Ideal Apprenticeship
The First Transformation
Darwin example:
Darwin hated school. His father pushed him to do medicine and become a clergyman, but he loved the outdoors and collect specimens
His professor friend from Cambridge recommended him to the HMS Beagle as a naturalist. While not a seafaring person, he found peace observing everyone on board, just like how he did as a child
He arrived in South America and found a lot of diversity. He became more adventurous and was able to focus for far longer and was much more satisfied
Came to Galapagos Islands and learned about the species there → started developing theory of evolution. His Life Task was to prove the theory
Keys to Mastery
All the masters that we admired spend a considerable amount of time (5-10 years) developing their craft
This stage often doesn’t get the credit it deserves because there are no big outcomes, but it is hugely important in the development of the master
In our childhood, we are put in dependency mode and taught from teachers and books. This doesn’t work in real life and the naivety is not rewarded. Apprenticeship trains us in the real world
Everyone’s path of apprenticeship is different, but it is important to save ourselves from committing huge mistakes during this time
The goal of apprenticeship is to transform yourself, not to gain more money and fame
By the end, you should be able to remain disciplined, focused and detached. You should be able to handle the complexities of your role
This means that wherever you perform your apprenticeship should offer the most room for growth. Pay shouldn’t be the biggest factor, because that can come later
Take the apprenticeship to really challenge yourself in order to transform and reconnect everything back to your Life Task
The Apprenticeship Phase - Three Steps
Note that the following steps do not need to be done all in one place. Some of it can span multiple companies, some people choose to do this during school and work, etc.
Place different weights on each step depending on your career
Step One: Deep Observation - The Passive Mode
Every career has its own environment, rules of engagement and social atmosphere. Your first step is to understand the reality as deeply as possible through observation
The greatest mistake you can make is trying to impress others. You should submit to reality. If people are impressed by you, it should be because of your seriousness in learning
Two things to observe closely:
What are the rules and patterns that represent success? Look at those succeeding and failing to get an idea
Understand the power dynamics. Your job is not to moralize but just observe. When you are a master, you can change this as necessary
This great observation is what enabled Darwin to do so well in his voyage despite being in completely different cultures at home (seafaring culture, gaucho culture). This permeated in his work, because he observed and thought deeply before acting
A few important outcomes of this:
Helps you navigate and avoid costly mistakes
Observing unfamiliar environments is a life-long skill
Develop your skill in human psychology and ability to focus
Accustom to habit of observe → analyze → act. This is important as you become a master
Step Two: Skills Acquisition - The Practice Mode
Start to determine what skills are truly needed and reduce them to a set of practicible skills
You need to practice and repeat A LOT. You need to immerse yourself in an environment where you can practice and repeat
You want to lead to a cycle of accelerated returns: practice → get better at practice → do it faster and have opportunities to do more interesting practice → spend even more time practicing → getting even better, faster
Principles about skills:
Learn one skill at a time to develop focus
This process might be tedious, but it is essential to NOT short-circuit and get distracted. Embrace the boredom; it will pay off in it’s dividends. You want to be so good that it becomes automatic to practice this skill
Once the skill is practiced enough, self-critique and get feedback from others
This will take a lot of time (~10k hours), despite the field you are in
Step Three: Experimentation - The Active Mode
Start doing small projects and expose yourself to criticism. You generally want to do this before you are actually ready so that you can maximize growth
Once you feel that you have learned as much as you could, go to another place and repeat or declare your independence
Summary
People believe that the computer age has made the craftsmen model obsolete, but that is very dangerous. It’s not that technology has made everything easier, but everything has become far more complex and globalized
The future belongs to those who can learn the fastest and can organize information the best. The way of developing skills has not changed
There will be conflict in the future between those who focused and those who didn’t, those who learned and those who didn’t
Don’t look down upon those who work with their hands; in fact, this mindset of being a builder is important to becoming a master. You need to transform through apprenticeship to become a competent builder
Strategies for Completing the Ideal Apprenticeship
Value learning over money
Benjamin Franklin example: Franklin had the opportunity to run a lucrative candle-making business from his dad, but decided to pursue harder and less lucrative printing business. He did it because he wanted to become better at writing
Albert Einstein example: he had the opportunity to go to a well-paying dynamo and insurance business, but he didn’t want to because it would not give him enough time to do his physics thought experiments. He instead worked at the patent office, which he figured would help him understand various aspects of science and help him become a better reasoner
Martha Graham example: did dancing at a commercial company but hated that it sapped her of her creative energy. She instead did teaching and survived on bare minimum and worked on her craft on her own time
Freddie Roach example: basically started coaching for free, but it would take up loads of his time (along with his telemarketing job). He withstood the challenge and started his own business later
Beware of chasing money in your apprenticeships, because if you don’t learn valuable skills, that will catch up to you and you will fall
Value learning above alll else where you get the chance to do hands-on work
Money will come to you when you are a master
Keep expanding your horizons
Zora Neale Hurston example: Zora was born and brought up in a black-led town in the South and learned a lot about stories. She read a lot in her childhood. Due to familial problems, Zora was unable to continue education
She had to work menial jobs (cleaning, manicurist) but she developed her own self-directed apprenticeship by reading and listening to conversations during her work. She didn’t let her status or hardships limit her horizons
She worked extremely hard and passed high school & entered Howard University. Wrote a successful short story → moved to New York to write → did more education at Barnard → wrote several successful novels
What we need to learn from Zora is that our access to knowledge is usually dependent on status, but if we internalize our status that we have at the very beginning we will never grow
Whenever you learn, go above and beyond and try to your best to improve
Be careful on who you would want in your vicinity: you want your circle to challenge you and help you grow
Revert to a feeling of inferiority
Daniel Everett example: was a Christian missionary who was assigned to a Mayan village that spoke a very tough language
He realized that the only way to really learn the language was to become like a child and throw away the Western superiority complex
What prevents a lot of people from growing is increasig smugness and arrogance as we grow older, which is a learning diability
As an apprentice, your goal should be to be as meek and dependent as possible on others in order to open your mind to learning
This is temporary and you will soon be independent in a few years, but being childishly inferior and wondrous will help massively in learning
Trust the process
Cesar Rodriguez example: he accidentally ended up in fighter jet school but soon came to love it. However well he did in simulators, he always had a fear in the cockpit
To combat this, he trained extremely hard, much more than the ‘golden boys’ of his class. He eventually got good enough to the point where the plane felt like an extension of himself
He’s now a fighter jet ace
Many people will reach a point of frustration, panic and fear in their apprenticeship. The key is to keep moving
Remember that time is the magic ingredient when it comes to mastering skill. By trusting in compounding and consistency, you will eventually overcome any humps in your apprenticeship journey
Move toward resistance and pain
Bill Bradley example: Bradley loved basketball but he had no real natural talent despite height for the sport. He decided to create an extremely rigorous training programme to force himself to become a basketball star
He practiced 3 hours every day after school and 8 hours on weekends. He made the training even harder by impairing his vision, forcing himself to use peripheral vision, and more
Even when his family went on vacation, he found spots to continue his basketball practice and continuously upped the challenge
Through all of his hard work, he managed to become an All-Star basketball player renowned for his dribbling and passing
John Keats example: Keats did a rigorous self-apprenticeship to learn all things poetry. He usually imitate other famous poems and spun it in order to train himself
His final test was a brutal poem about a Greek myth, 4,000 lines long. He struggled through it but finished and learned invaluable lessons that made him a star poet
Usually, we try to avoid the hard parts and overtrain on the easy skills. This is not the way of the master
The master goes down the resistance part: you resist the temptation of being nice to yourself and you resist being distracted. 5 hours of focused work will be 10 hours for others
Appprentice yourself in failure
Henry Ford example: Ford failed twice before he made the Model A. Everytime he failed, he analyzed his mistakes and did a root cause analysis to prevent from happening again
For entrepreneurial ideas, failues & mistakes (if used wisely) are the best ways of educating yourself on your own incompetencies
You can’t wait for your ideas to happen. You need to execute on it fast to get the best feedback from your mistakes
Combine the “how” and the “what”
Santiago Calatrava example: Calatrava was a gifted artist but soon gained a huge interest in architecture
As he was studying in architecture school, he realized that he didn’t have a good understanding of how architecture was implemented, so he started over again in civil engineering
After 14 years in university, he finally entered work world where he create incredible structures that seemed to move but were structurally sound
In your apprenticeships, try your best to understand how everything works. It gives you a huge leg up over those who only understand what things do
Advance through trial and error
Paul Graham example: was a hacker in high school → did CS at Cornell → CS at Harvard (but hated academia) → art at RISD → consulting → making own company → YC
His life was full of trial and error and eventually converged on what he truly enjoyed doing
This hacker model of trial and error may be the modern day equivalent of apprenticeships: use the Internet to learn as much skills as possible to help you in your deepest interest. Use trial and error methodologies to converge on a type of work that you really enjoy
At the end, you will have a wide range of skills and you will be ready to make great use of various opportunities that come your way because only you have the unique pairing of skills
Reversal
There’s no shortcuts; the Apprenticeship phase is mandatory part of becoming a master
Absorb the Master’s Power: The Mentor Dynamic
The Alchemy of Knowledge
Faraday example:
Faraday was from a poor family, but his reverance for books enabled him to become an apprentice book-binder, where he learned about the newest topics in the world, especially electricity
To overcome his lack of university credentials, Faraday did his own apprenticeship by recreating experiments, attending public lectures and reworking his lecture notes, which the Royal Society president took note
When Humphrey Davy needed a note-taker assistant, Faraday was recommended. After the temporary gig, Faraday was asked to be his laboratory assistant, which is the ultimate form of mentorship since Davy was an expert in chemistry and growing his knowledge in electricity
Faraday grew a lot underneath Davy, but as the years went by, Davy started to hold Faraday back.
Faraday outdid Davy by creating a brilliant experiment to show the conical relationship of magnetic fields and electric currents. Davy tried to take credit, but Faraday’s work was very clear. Soon Faraday overtook Davy
Keys to Mastery
Due to increasing democratization, humans are finding it harder to accept that there are Masters among us that are worth learning from
We praise those who find faults in these masters and we become increasingly skeptical, likely because of our unconcious ego
All that you should really care about in the early stages of your career should be learning the most important skills in the most effective way possible
During the Apprenticeship phase, you will need mentors who guide you, since that is the most effective way to kickstart your own learning. This is not an indictment on you; it just simply means you have a temporary weakness that a master can help overcome
Mentorship is simply far more effective as a method of learning compared to self-learning, because they can streamline your curriculum and provide real-time feedback. This enables us to utilize our most creative years most effectively
A really strong 2-way mentor-protege relationship is incredibly powerful, because the protege admires and soaks up far more, and the mentor is emotionally invested, divesting more secrets
You will need to use a Master’s self-interest in order to access them, just like Faraday used Davy’s need for organization to gain access to him
Work on yourself to become an organized and focused machine → the right mentors will come your way when they hear of your hunger and ambition
Don’t feel afraid of approaching masters at any level; they are surprisingly open to mentor others
The best mentors are those who have skills in wide areas and are not specialized because they can train you to think and connect with different areas of knowledge
You want as much personal interaction with your mentor to pick up on unconcious techniques that make them effective in their work
You can have multiple mentors or use mentors from history, but usually a singular, present mentor is best
Be wary of mentors who become dependent on you and start to hinder your growth. As soon as that happens, it’s important that you subvert the play and leave
In various phases of life, you will have several mentors who you will add and cut with ease. Don’t be ashamed of this, as this is the way of the world
Strategies for Deepening the Mentor Relationship
Choose the mentor according to your needs and inclinations
Frank Lloyd Wright example: was an apprentice draftsmen at a prestigious Chicago architectural firm, but the firm was using outdated architectural practices and he felt his growth waning
Heard about Louis Sullivan who needed a draftsmen → got the job (even though he burned bridges) and propelled himself under Sullivan. Got fired for moonlighting later, but by then he gotten everything he needed
Carl Jung example: while he was successful experimental psychologist, he still was uneasy with the lack of rigor in psychology
Approached Sigmund Freud and discussed psychology with him and became his apprentice
Learned a lot and confirmed many of his theories, but left Freud due to his dictatorial tendencies
V.S. Ramachandran example: was an apprentice of Richard Gregory, a foremost neurologist in the field of optics. Became his apprentice and learned his experimental style
Yoky Matsuoka example: apprenticed under Rodney Brooks, a robotics professor at MIT. He gave her the space and courage to pioneer a new field of robotics
Be very mindful when selecting your mentor. Your choice should strategically align with your Life Task and your idiosyncracies
While mentor-protege relationships are similar to father-child relationships, there’s one major difference: you can choose your mentor, but you cannot choose your family. Choose wisely
Gaze deep into the mentor’s mirror
Hakuin Zenji example: Hakuin was a Zen monk, but he found that Zen Buddhism in Japan was losing it’s way (suffering wasn’t emphasized enough)
Hakuin searched far and wide and eventually found a Zen Master, Shoju Rojin, who was known for creating suffering for his students, which Hakuin needed
He spent all of his time with Shoju and solved some of his koans, which in response Shoju praised and guided
Even thous Hakuin left a few months, Shoju was the only mentor Hakuin had, and that was enough for him to reform Japan’s Zen Buddhism
Our culture has lost reverance for suffering, and that prevents is from really developing, because we don’t know exactly where we are faltering
Mentors who are willing to give the sharpest dose of reality for their students are the best type of mentors
Transfigure their ideas
Glen Gould example: was a child piano prodigy and mentored under Alberto Guerrero who taught him particular piano tricks
Although Gould often scorned Guerrero’s techniques, he used it as a consummate professional → mimicked Guerrero really well
His mimicry plus his own distinct style made Gould an incredible piano master
An issue that some people can face is that they are drowned out by their mentors. Gould tackled this problem by taking all of Guerrero’s advice and slightly changing it to fit his own inclinations
This should happen with all advice to the point where you can start to compete with your master
”Poor is the apprentice who does not surpass his master” - Leonardo da Vinci
Create a back-and-forth dynamic
Freddie Roach example: Freddie realized that the old way of training boxers was quite static and trainers were more observing rather than interacting with the boxers
When Pacquiao reached out for training, Roach took him on with his distinctive interactive training style
As Pacquiao became better, they started to change their styles of fighting and coaching based on Pacquiao’s response. Training became very dynamic
Sometimes, mentorship relations will go flat. The best way to solve this is for the mentor to be more adaptive to your style
This is not compatible with a combative learner. You must be willing to work hard and focus such that the mentor starts to trust you more and becomes willing to adapt their mentorship strategy
Reversal
Sometimes, you will not have a mentor because you just don’t have anyone
Thomas Edison example: he had to heavily rely on books and jobs to build up his experience in electricity
You need to work extra hard and be willing to focus for extremely long with ample amount of practical experimentation
See People As They Are: Social Intelligence
Thinking Inside
Benjamin Franklin faced social issues at his work and became a social rationalist
1st example: at his brother’s printing shop in Boston, he started writing pseudonymous letters which became hugely popular. When he told his brother, he became very angry and kicked him out
2nd example: when he moved to Philadelphia, he was overwhlemed from the governor’s enterprising attitude for printing presses and moved to London to secure supplies. He realized too late that the governor was a talker and had no money to give Franklin
3rd example: when he worked in London as a printing shop worker and refused to chip in for the beer funds, he was harrased by his workers
Franklin started to totally accept human nature and swore to always take a step back when interacting with people. He wanted to understand their motivations before doing anything to avoid the mistakes of the past
1st example: when his former Philadelphia employer tried to take him back after the London debacle, Franklin guessed that the employer wanted to train other printing shop workers and get rid of Franklin. He outmanouevered him and started his own successful printing shop
2nd example: when a powerful legislator became his enemy, Franklin cooly analyzed him and discovered his need for attention and love of rare books. He combined this to ask favors of the legislator, and he became friends
3rd example: when sent to France to secure funds against the British, he adopted French lifestyle (to the disdain of Americans) in order to convince the king to send money
Keys to Mastery
Humans have advanced social tools in their brains to deduce motivations, but our long childhood that tints our lenses with emotions prevents us from making rational use of these tools
This is dangerous in adulthood because we cannot read people very well and may land us in hot waters
Developing social intelligence just means that we discard our naive perspectives and hone our natural observational and empathy skills
Franklin realized that the only way to really be socially effective is to immerse your mind in other’s worlds!
Once he figured this out, he actually was able to spend more time learning and working rather than worrying about social issues
You need to come to a realization that you are dominated by a naive social perspective. From there, you should understand how you made social blunders or failed to saw red flags
Once you realize this, you will slowly realize that you were operating in the blind before, because you have no idea what the motivations of people are
Rather than being cynical once you come to this realization, you need to accept it. Those who deny or hide their dark sides are the most dangerous people (a wolf in sheep’s clothing)
There’s two forms of social intelligence: specific and general. Master both during apprenticeship phase
By cultivating social intelligence, you can actually benefit your own work as you begin to develop patience and its easier to connect to other people’s experiences
Specific Knowledge - Reading People
Pay close attention to body language & tone of voice and don’t take what they’re saying at face value
Focus outward but don’t try to intrepret others actions as an affront to you. Stay detached
Stressful and emotional periods are usually when the masks are off. Also look at people’s actions & decisions. Combining with nonverbal cues and a sense of detachment + practice, you will be skilled at reading people
People who present fronts that are very friendly or funny often are trying to hide something of the opposite nature
Don’t pay too much weight on first impressions, because they are often not truthful. Instead, let time unveal their character
Your goal is to understand people’s thoughts, motivations characters and values. This will help you predict what others will do in certain situations
Be Bayesian instead of frequentist in your approach, because people change and observations will differ as a result
General Knowledge - The Seven Deadly Realities
Humans tend to exhibit 7 issues. Some can hide these issues really well until it blows up and leaves you in surprise
Envy: we try to dismiss it and minimize by telling ourselves that people got success because of connections or luck. Denying and repressing this → seething envy
They will sabotage you if envy is super destructive. Beware those who are super friendly when you first meet
If this is a particular concern, don’t appear too perfect and don’t try to trigger insecurities
Conformism: Many times as part of an organization, a team creates a conformist culture. Even though we say we celebrate diversity of thought and personality, it will hurt you if you start to display it too overtly especially if the team is strongly conformist
In your apprenticeship phase, there’s no point in getting into trouble with culture if you can avoid it. Adhere as much as you can and as you become a master, you can create your own culture
Rigidity: in complex and changing situations, humans like to stick to the old because of comfort. When novelty occurs, the old guard will try their best to stop it
For the highly creative, this can be bad because as you introduce novelty into an environment, people will become defensive. As an apprentice, just continue to show deference for order but cultivate that independent spirit
Self-obsessiveness: people usually do things out of self-interest. There’s nothing inherently wrong in this, but people try to hide this nonetheless
Appeal to self-interest if you need a favour or some help
Laziness: many people want to take shortcuts and will take credit or force you to do work for them because they are inherently lazy and want to profit off other people’s hard work
Make it harder for people to steal your credit (unless it’s a master, because that is expected as an apprentice)
Show your work publicly so people know who is doing the work
Be wary of collaboration with others and look at their past work intensity
Flightiness: what people say and do change in a mercurial fashion. You will waste valuable mental space trying to understand why they changed their opinion
Be prepared and become detached. To prevent something like this sabotaging your efforts, look at their actions and not their words
Passive aggression: some people hate to be overtly aggressive and start to act aggressively in a passive manner (eg. showing up late to your projecs, offhand comments)
How to deal with this: call them out on it (often works, I can personally attest to this) but even better is to avoid these people like the plague
How to detect passive aggression? Again, look at their history and actions. If they are known to stir up drama, then it’s best to avoid
They are masters at emotional battles, which is huge waste of your time and effort
Strategies for Acquiring Social Intelligence
Speak through your work
Ignaz Semmelweis example: Ignaz figured out that pregnant women were dying in his hospital because doctors were not washing their hands and unintentionally spreading disease
The issue was that the head doctor was very conservative and saw Semmelweis as an upstart willing to overthrow medical orthodoxy
Semmelweis started lectures and research to spread his views, but after he lost his hospital job, he moved to Budapest and implemented his theories. It worked but he did it with such tyrannical ferocity that doctors began to despise him
He never published his work properly. He did write a book but it was poorly written and was more of a diatribe against conservative doctors. People didn’t accept his theories (because he didn’t prove it with research) and he died humiliated
William Harvey example: Harvey was a well-known doctor but he didn’t take to Galen’s theory of blood where livers manufactured blood and it was sent slowly throughout the body
Harvey theorized that the heart was actually a pump and blood was being sent quickly throughout the body. However, to prove it would be death to a patient due to blood loss of opening up a chest to examine hearts
Harvey realized people wouldn’t accept his new theories immediately, so he waited to publish and instead ammassed evidence and support from other doctors and from the court
When he did publish his polemic, he naturally faced some opposition but he always politely and privately refuted any arguments. He was one of the only scientists who managed to establish a theory during his lifetime
Stories of both men usually revolve around the science, but it is clear that social agility played a huge role in their success. Harvey realized that a scientist must also act like a courtier and should be clear and thorough in their work
By focusing on excellent and detail-oriented work, you can easily rise above the bickering and politics. Gracefully accepting feedback as well is a hallmark
Craft the appropriate persona
Teresita Fernandez example: Fernandez had a hard time fitting in during high school and saw herself as an observer of peopl
In university, she was attracted to metal sculpturing and made some terrific pieces. The art world soon put her in the centre of attention and attributed mystery to her, which worked out well. Fernandez accepted this typecast since it was beneficial to her and played along
However, conceptions about female artists often irritated her. She molded her personality to be the direct opposite (i.e. more organized, more authoritive), which left her observers in wonder
She played the artist courtier extremely well and people respect her as a conceptual artists versed in many different materials
Fernandez realized that her personality was extremely important to her success, so she took charge of her personality to match her goals. People usually don’t change their personalities, but Fernandez developed that skill
When people start to attribute certain characteristics due to your appearance, you might internalize it and spend all your time worrying about it. Your protection for this is to conciously mold it to your benefit and stay one step ahead of the public
Molding your personality is not psychotic or evil; everyone does it unintentionally. If you pay attention to this and play up your dynamism, flexibility and mysterious qualities in your personality, it will help you in various situations
See yourself as others see you
Temple Grandin example: Grandin had autism and found it very difficult to understand nonverbal cues from humans (hence why she was so successful with animals)
She thought she could get by with great quality of her work and she wouldn’t need to deal with social intelligence. She was dead wrong
Grandin had the ability to view herself in third person and tried to replay all the events where she caused a mistake. She realized she was making people feel inferior with her intelligence. She was able to correct it pretty easily by involving people in decisions and stopping her blunt criticism of her peers
When she became famous and began to give talks, she got feedback that she sounded like a machine and wasn’t personable. Rather than being offended by this, Grandin worked on her stage prescence and became a very entertaining, informative and engaging speaker
We all have our social flaws but it can be difficult to correct because either people don’t give us honest feedback and/or we’re too insecure to look at our own social fails
Look at past instances where we caused issues and dissect what we did to cause others to be hurt or annoyed and correct it slowly. We can begin to develop self-detachment and will help us correct our mistakes
Suffer fools gladly
Johann Wolfgang Goethe example: Goethe was asked to be an advisor to the duke of Weimar. He hated court life and inane conversations, but he played dumb and rarely ventured his opinions. Rather, he collected all the courtesans conversations and used it in his books
Josef von Sternberg example: when creating a film with Emil Jannings (who seemed to be a huge pain), he would play tricks to get Jannings to do certain things in the film (which became one of Jannings’ star performances) while also obliging Jannings’ nonsensical requests
Daniel Everett example: in his linguistic journey with the Piraha in Mexico, he realized that many of Noam Chomsky’s theories of genetic origin of grammar was incorrect. Everett believed that culture had a more important relationship to grammar than previously thought
Many MIT linguists took issue with this and began to pepper him with emotional questions and caused a lot of havoc. Everett became quite emotional, but realized that he just needed to make his writings airtight to prevent criticism
What should matter in your life is simple: long-term results and getting work done in an efficient and creative manner
Fools don’t follow this and care more about the short-term: immediate money, attention, ego and looking good. There’s too many fools to count (I 100% agree with this statement)
We naturally combat fools by descending to their level and we lose sense of what is truly important in our lives
There’s no point in engaging with fools. It is simply human comedy. Just ignore and focus on your goals
Reversal
During his Harvard graduate years, Paul Graham started to really hate politics and social maneouvering. He deliberately picked positions or designed social structures to avoid this as much as possible (eg. YC is very non-bureaucratic)
If you cannot tolerate social incompetency, then don’t get involved and stay away. This generally will limit you from working in larger groups
Generally speaking, it is wise to try to improve your social intelligence. This will spill into your personal life as well
Awaken the Dimensional Mind: The Creative-Active
The Second Transformation
Mozart was languishing in his role as a court composer under the archbishop of Salzburg despite all the tours of Europe that he had done as a child
He finally rebelled and stayed in Vienna, where he composed truly creative operas that incorporated several new musical processes
His operas were incredibly popular and are still playing today
Keys to Mastery
Original mind: this was the mindset that we had as a child, where everything was new for us and it was easy to focus on different things. It was flexible and receptive to new ideas
Conventional mind: our mind becomes constrained by words and concepts that we have previously encountered. Society is a big factor in this
Masters retain the creativity of the original mind and add in the years of apprenticeships, knowledge and focus to develop some truly great work
Masters exhibit the dimensional mind: childlike creativity mixed with years of discipline
Understand that each one of us has a creative spirit that wants to be exercised; our misery with our life is often due to the pressed nature of our creativity. It does entail risks, by merging creativity with experience is a recipe for fulfillment
This is exactly what happened with Mozart: he repressed his creativity underneath the archbishop but finally rebelled and merged his creativity with his skill to create exquisite compositions
The dimensional mind has two requirements: knowledge (from apprenticeships) and openness to try new things
We have to be careful that we don’t let our knowledge confine our creativity
There are three steps that one can take to unlock the dimensional mind as follows:
Step One: The Creative Task
Attacking a problem or task with creativity requires time, knowledge, emotional control and foresight. If you choose the wrong subject, then you will run out of energy
The problem that you choose to tackle should come from deep within you (like Captain Ahab’s obsession over Moby Dick) so that you can withstand the hours of drudgery and critics
The choice of problem is what makes the Master! Edison, Proust and Rembrandt are just a few examples of individuals who didn’t reach anywhere until they found a good outlet
The primary law of the creative dynamic: your emotional commitment will translate directly to your work
It’s often wise to choose something that appeals to your and is slightly controversial, because it can feed off your latent rebellious feelings
Two things to keep in mind:
The task must be realistic: you should have the ability to tackle it, but it shouldn’t be easy; it should be ambitious but doable (provides more energy for you)
Let go of your need for comfort and security: creative tasks are always uncertain. If you keep latent ideas regarding security, you won’t be able to set sail as you are tied to the shore
Step Two: Creative Strategies
The mind is a muscle that gradually tightens up because a) we only practice the same type of thought and b) focusing restricts our view
The following strategies could be useful in counteracting the tightening
Cultivate negative capability
John Keats writes that we need to be able to set aside our ego and just observe our work and the constant state of flux without putting any sort of judgement in order to be truly creative
Negative capability: the ability to endure and embrace mystery and uncertainty
Mozart entertained several different music styles, even with rival composers. Einstein contemplated his theories looking for dissenting facts
The need for certainty is the greatest disease for the creative mind
How to practice: conciously refrain from making opinions and seek uncertainty (eg. read books from different fields)
This shouldn’t be the constant satte of mind, this should mainly be used for divergent thinking
Allow for serendipity
We sometimes need a bit of chance to jog our creative brain. Focusing and shutting out everything is not always the right solution
First step: when doing research for your project, be as vast as possible and read more than necessary. This ensures that the brain can make connections between seemingly disparate information
Second step: allow for openness and loosening of spirit ocassionally to allow new ideas to germinate (eg. Einstein played the violin)
Ex: Louis Pasteur discovered inocculation by doing several different experiments and accidentally coming upon a weird result, which he then decided to pursue on a whim
Ex: Edison invented the phonograph by making the connection to telegraph machines and recording sound ⇒ completely random association made clear by playing and experimenting
Tip #1: keep a notebook to record serendipitous thoughts
Tip #2: think in terms of metaphors and analogies
Alternate the mind through “the current”
The Current is a process of speculating and testing based on an observed phenomena
Ex: Darwin did this when doing 8 years of study on the barnacle
Many people tend to only speculate or they don’t even chase the rabbit hole, which is a waste of an opportunity
Ex: Buckminister Fuller often created artifacts of his ideas to play around with and constantly improve based on public feedback
The artifact approach is really good for product development (whole Learn Startup method)
Alter your perspective
Our minds tend to use mental shorthands to gloss over generalities for convenience. A creative mind is able to identify and subvert these shorthands. The following are a list of shorthands
Looking at the what instead of the how: if you face a problem, don’t just classify. Think of how the problem occured to develop system thinking
Rushing to generalities and avoiding details: immersing yourself in the details will help prevent generalization, but make sure to always keep sight of the goal
Confirming paradigms and ignoring anomalies: anomalies often provide the richest source of information and should not just be explained away
Fixating on what is present, ignoring what is absent: many characters in history solved problems through via negativa. When we do this, we also want to reverse our emotional nature as well so that we remain cautious but bold
Revert to primal forms of intelligence
Our ancestors were visual thinkers; words cannot describe everything we are thinking about
Many past figures used images, 3D models and other parts of their senses
Step Three: The Creative Breakthrough - Tension and Insight
A lot of Masters often plod away at their work, lose their initial delight and start to feel tension and a little blocked. How do they solve it? They take a break and the solution “comes to them”
Albert Einstein came to some of his famous conclusions by just sleeping earlier
Wagner overcame his blocks by taking a walk
Losing the initial drive is important to look at our work objectively. However, it is not a signal to stop! You must keep moving forward. If the tensions becomes too great, we take a break and allow our unconcious mind to take over
Tension is also important to force yourself to think at a higher level
Galois came up with many of his finest math theorems the day before his fateful duel
Set fake deadlines if need be or use publicity to force your brain to overwork. Edison often announced crazy ideas before he was ready to force himself to work
Emotional Pitfalls
Being a creative-active person can take an emotional toll and can lead us into traps. Be aware of the following pitfalls:
Complacency: if we rest on our laurels from apprenticeship and stop asking those important and curious questions, our mind slowly starts to seize up
Fight this as much as you can by upholding the principles of active wonder and remind yourself of how much you don’t know
Conservatism: if you start placing too much emotional weight on your past accomplishments or methods, you will be unable to take the risks required to satisfy your creative brain
Conservatism will tie you to comfortable ideas and create a downward spiral
Make creativity the goal, not comfort
Dependency: you need to develop internal standards and independece so that you are not completely beholden by the public and can tell if what they are saying is valuable
Internalize your Master so that you become both the teacher and the pupil
Impatience: The creative process needs continual work and intensity. Rushing to old ideas will not help
Grandiosity: With enough praise, we will start shifting our goal from creativity to ego, which is dangerous as we start to climb ever-higher on the ladder of ambition
Consider public attention as a nuisance and a distraction to prevent this from affecting you
Inflexibility: creativity requires flexibility
By doing creative work, we acheive the ultimate forms of satisfaction: we are creating ourselves
Strategies for the Creative-Active Phase
The authentic voice
John Coltrane example: Coltrane spent a lot of time experimenting with different types of jazz music and chords until we found something just right that fit his inner voice
The resulting music was extremely popular and standard-defining in the world of jazz
Coltrane spent 10 years learning different music styles in order to create something personal
As Masters, we also need to spend the time to be rigorous in our fields and trying out new things in order to create something personal to us
The fact of great yield
V.S. Ramachandran example: Ramachandran often did extremely simple experiments to understand the root causes of certain neurological anomalies
Phantom limb syndrome: experimented with mirrors to determine that a feeling of sight was important in the phantom limb
Apotemnophilia (desire to ampute a limb): talked with patients and did simple galvanic testing and noted that the brain’s map of the body was incorrect
Ramachandran had a rigid criteria on which anomalies he would research
Be an opportunist like Ramachandran and go look for facts of great yields, evidence that if the underlying system is proven, could have great application
Have a criteria on ideas you want to investigate and look at anomalies for a variety of fields, even ones you are not an expert on
Mechanical intelligence
Orville and Wilbur Wright example:
Both brothers had a knack for mechanical contraptions. Before they figured out flight, they were very involved in bicycle repair and creating their own bicycles (which they often tested their own modifications)
When Wilbur analyzed avation experts at the time he noticed that:
They weren’t in the air long enough to figure out what to improve on, so they couldn’t really do good repetition
Experts overvalues stability, which made poor airplane designs
Wilbur convinced his brother and applied the MVP principle to their plane and making modifications until they created the first motored airplane
Be willing to improve on your project through repetitions and using it yourself to understand the limitations
Natural powers
Santiago Calatrava example:
Calatrava liked architecture, but he was worried that the natural constraints of building projects would kill his passion for architecture
He developed a unique process to combat this:
He always started off with several hundred hand drawings and slowly built connections as the building took shape in his mind
He was willing to always start over in case any part of the design didn’t hold up after months of working on the design
Since he started from drawings, any constraints (eg. money, materials) were more creative challenges than blockers
Since we usually don’t have mentors in the creative-active stage, we need to develop our own processes for creating creative works, like Calatrava
Some tips for crafting your own creative process:
Always include a divergent thinking at the very beginning
Make sure to read widely and incorporate ideas from different domains
Never be complacent and constantly work on improving your ideas. Frame your obstacles with this in mind
Never be impatient. Time is your greatest ally as you slow cook your ideas
The open field
Martha Graham example:
Martha learned Denishawn ballet from a few well-known ballet dancers, but she felt that the style was missing expression that she wanted to bring out from herself
She invented her own dance style, complete with different training, different poses and different costumes
It was so powerful that it created a bifuraction in public opinion (a signal to it’s power)
Every field is littered with dead paradigms. If you want to create a new one, look within yourself to see if there’s something that you desparately want to express
Once you have found something, be brave and execute on it, even if it goes against prevailing wisdom
This is not the same as wild spontaneity, because it requires you to use your past knowledge to diligently subvert your discipline
The high end
Yoki Matsuoka example:
Matsuoka spent a lot of her time building a robotic hand at MIT, going against conventional logic and spending time on imitating human anatomy
Her work became the standard for robotic hands
Constantly remind yourself of the purpose of your work to avoid getting hard-locked into a particular strategy
The evolutionary hijack
Paul Graham example:
Graham came upon the idea of a web application for ecommerce while everyone else was building desktop applications. This allowed him to iterate faster than anyone else
He also came up with the idea of YC by giving a talk at Harvard and starting off with ‘lousy’ entrepreneurs and building himself up to a formidable investor
What constitutes true creativity is a certain fluidity of mind, where accidents can create sparks in your head on how to approach something differently
Dimensional thinking
Jean-Francois Champollion example:
No one was able to crack the Rosetta Stone, but Champollion took a different tack. He first learned Coptic in order to decipher Demotic and spent all of his time obsesseing
After a break due to governmental instability, he came back and realized that hieroglyphics was a combination of ideograms and visuals. He attacked the problem in wholly different angles than anyone had done before and managed to crack it
It’s often important to have holistic view of the subject you are tackling rather than coming at it with simplifications and formulas, tackling with different angles
Alchemical creativity and the unconscious
Teresita Fernandez example:
She often created crazy public artworks by mixing around with materials and scale
Actively explore the unconcious and contradictory aspects of your personality and surroundings
Reversal
Don’t fall for the myths that creativity is from madness or drugs. It’s from pure effort
Fuse the Intuitive with the Rational: Mastery
The Third Transformation
Marcel Proust was an excellent writer and decided to write about his experiences interacting with the Parisian elite
His first novel was a failure, so he decided to devote his time studying other authors and become an expert in language
Due to his wide reading and self-apprenticeship, Proust was able to publish some insanely successful and creative novels where he mixed history, elite culture and his own experiences
In fact, his habit of incorporating his own experiences was what made him so successful, as he was able to relate directly to the reader
Keys to Mastery
Masters were the paragons of their field because they had intuition: they were able to make sense of a situation and see more than other practioners
Intuition is a valid form of intelligence but much harder to teach, but it is accessible to all
Through long periods of familiarity and hard work, the master is able to understand the whole very deeply
Often times, masters need to verify their intuitions in a rational manner. Darwin spent years analyzing the evidence of his intuition about evolutionary theory
The time that leads to this level of mastery is dependent on our intensity of focus
As we start as an apprentice, we need to be continuously aware and start to build a mental model. The richness of this model depends on our attention to everything around us
This is exactly what Proust did: he spent years of intense focus on his various interactions and actions, even though it looked like he was wasting time on the outside
The Roots of Masterly Intuition
Human ancestors developed a primitive form of intuition to offload mental compute for tasks like detecting predators, finding food & water, etc.
Human intuition is based primarily on memory, which in turn is based off attention that we have paid to things in the past
These memory networks in our brain allows us to come to creative solutions only if the network is big enough
The need to attain intuition is more important than ever as our world becomes more and more complex
Most people will try to ignore or remove the complexity, which doesn’t work and can backfire
The only way to handle complexity is to train Negative Capability and work on the skills to help you make sense of the complexity
Since memory is so important, try to train it on your own time through fruitful hobbies
Being able to harness intuition separates you from everyone else, as you can execute much faster than anyone else despite ambiguity
The Return to Reality
Throughout our work, we have been segmenting skills and fields, but as a master, you will primarily create your biggest gains when looking at things at the whole
Focus on relationships between fields
Strategies for Attaining Mastery
Masters often don’t seek the normative career path and have a strong guiding compass on what they want to do. They often go down an unconventional route
Connect to your environment - primal powers
Polynesian navigators example:
Polynesians had no tools to navigate, yet they often travelled thousands of kilometers to reach certain islands or land masses
When Westerners tried piecing it together, they realized that the master navigators were using memorized star charts, sensitivity to currents and winds and nearby animals
In other words, they were looking at everything to determine their current location. Furthermore, they only spent a few minutes absorbing all of this
A deep connection with our surrounding environment can help us become ultra-masters, where no change goes without notice
This will require us to throw out the distractions of technology for worship of intellect
Play to your strengths - supreme focus
Albert Einstein example:
Einstein spent years pondering the problem of relative time and finally came upon it with an argument with his friend
Every day, he spent time working through paradoxes. He even chose a lesser job in the patent office so that he could have more time to think
He was also unconventional because he didn’t do this through academia, because he hated the structure
Einstein did three things to help him become a master: he chose to not focus too much on experimental physics (which was common), he attacked the problem from outside academia and he spent much of his free time playing the violin to foster those latent connections
Lean on your strengths with intensity to become a master
Temple Grandin example: she spent a lot of time with animals which helped her with autism research, which she had herself
Like Grandin, we should focus on our strengths and uniqueness, however weird they might be. For Grandin, it was her empathy for animals, which helped her become successful. Don’t fall prey to conformism
Transform yourself through practice - the fingertip feel
Cesar Rodriguez example:
He worked really hard to become the best fighter jet pilot. He was able to develop insane concentration powers because of how hard he practiced
In an Iraqi firefight, he managed to down two jets through a combination of tactics that he couldn’t conciously remember. This was the sign of his mastery
Like Rodriguez, we need to aspire to work really hard to make complex tasks like second nature. As you free up your brain, you will able to think on another dimension and can fuse mind and body
Internalize the details - the life force
Leonardo da Vinci example:
da Vinci spent a lot of time on the details of his paintings, giving his work almost a life-like quality. It created a weird aura and men particularly were enchanted
What Leonardo did differently than other artists in his time was his willingness to spend as much time as possible to absorb details
Think of your work as a life. It only will come to life into other minds if you are willing to spend the time to add in the details
Widen your vision - the global perspective
Freddie Roach example:
Roach changed boxing training by doing the following: he obsessively used mitt practice to get a great connection with his fighters and keeping track of opponent’s tics to help his fighters gain an advantage
If you can think beyond the moment and seize the actual dynamic, you can be much more successful because you can strategize and see the picture as a whole
Observe your rivals and yourself and uncover weaknesses. Your motto should be “Look wider and think further ahead”
Submit to the other - the inside-out perspective
Daniel Everett example:
Everett spent years in the jungles with the Piraha but he was only able to crack their language by immersing himself in the culture
He realized that they have very different thought patterns, so their linguistics didn’t quite fit into any known model
Exploring a subject from the inside-out vs looking at things externally won’t get you the great results you were looking for. It appeals to your conformist brain, because you use the latest methodologies to uncover things that just confirm your hypotheses so that you can get recogniztion
We often justify that looking from the outside preserves objectivism, but it actually comes with a lot of ingrained bias that will cloud the truth
An inside-out approach develops empathy for the problem and can give you surprising results
Synthesize all forms of knowledge - the universal man/woman
Goethe example: he was basically a man of all knowledge, from literature to science
He was able to create astounding predictions of the future as he was the ideal Renaissance man and was close to actual nature
Don’t try to segment knowledge into different fields. Learn and synthesize as much as you can, and surprising connections can pop out
Reversal
Denying mastery leads to disappointment and powerlessnes → creates the false self
The false self is the voice of conformism, societal pressures and ego
Mastery is an experession of yourself that anyone can do. It can enrich societies. Consuming is really the height of selfishness, as you fear to create
Alienating yourself from your inclinations will only lead to pain and bitterness