A Glimpse Into Mastery

Robert Greene’s work on Mastery is a masterpiece in itself — a complete look into what it takes to achieve the pinnacle of human potential

Greene is a master researcher, the singular skill that makes his books tower above others (literally).

He mentioned in this podcast that he spends a year reading before he even begins to write a book. This year is devoted to intense study, going through every conceivable piece of literature, developing ideas, and piecing together bits of information. Using his notecard system, he stacks thousands of note cards into various piles that ultimately become chapters for the book. Months of constant refining would reveal a masterwork.

Ryan Holiday would call them perennial sellers, books that endure the test of time.

The premiere book on mastery itself is forged from the hands of a master. Better than Outliers and more thorough than Talent, it is a full discourse into supreme intelligence: the power that emanates from those who are masters.

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. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Definition of Mastery

The idea of supreme intelligence and Greene’s definition of Mastery are somewhat unconventional: the feeling that we have a greater command of reality, other people, and ourselves. He describes mastery as a higher level of consciousness, a sort of intuition that comes from hours upon hours of persistent effort.

Although it might be something we experience for only a short while, for others- Masters of their field- it becomes their way of life, their way of seeing the world. — Robert Greene

Based on this idea, we can curtail a list of history’s greatest masters: Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Darwin, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Mozart, and Michael Jordan. When we think of these names, we imagine fluidity, smoothness, or something that appears to be otherworldly. What we are witnessing, however, is simply mastery in action. It is the culmination of hours upon hours of intense focus and effort.

Every notable authority on the subject of expertise talks about this process.

The Process of Mastery

Mastery is available to anyone, but it is the process that trims the fat. Very few are willing to endure the time and effort necessary to become a master. Moreover, very few properly align themselves with their unique calling, which provides the inner drive to push further and longer than most others. I call it a Massively Transformative Purpose (MTP), but Greene has coined a term for this: life’s task.

The key to high-level achievement in any field is to connect with what I call the Life’s Task, our vocation, what we are meant to do in this short time we have to live. We all experience in early childhood an attraction to certain activities, what I call primal inclinations. This could be physical activities (sports), games of strategy (chess, etc.), visual patterns or mathematics, music, words, and so on. These are indications of what is unique about us. This uniqueness can be expressed by our interest in several things that we want to combine. Most of us lose touch with these inclinations as we get older. We listen more and more to parents; we enter career paths that seem cool or lucrative. Masters stand out by their ability to stay true to their earliest inclinations; they have an exceptional connection to what they were meant to do in life. — Robert Greene (Source: Forbes)

To truly embrace the process of mastery, a person must likely align themselves with their Life’s Task. It can be an innate inclination to a particular vocation or uncovered through the slow evolution of everyday interaction. This means that someone may enter a field due to curiosity, then as skill increases, so does passion and energy, thus enabling greater exploration and revealing the path to mastery.

No More Masters?

There are certainly lots of people who are decent at what they do. But many careerists start to atrophy after years of work, armed only with a declining skill set and a loss of passion and creativity. This is the point where everyone seeks out innate talent, but talent alone is not the answer. Greene uses the story of Charles Darwin to make this point.

Darwin showed zero promise of becoming the person we know him as today.

A very ordinary boy (Darwin), rather below the common standard in intellect… I have great quickness of apprehension.. My power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought is very limited. — A description of Darwin from Mastery

The lack of masters in today’s society can be attributed to how we view work and the separation from our personal lives. Mastery requires the fusion of both, where work and play are one and the same.

Charles Darwin was regarded as an ordinary boy, nothing special, nothing worth noting until he found his Life’s Task.

“Become who you are by learning who you are.” — Pindar, Greek Poet

Darwin’s Path to Mastery

After five years at sea upon a voyage that connected several growing interests, Darwin devoted his life to his theory of evolution. This decision did not come easily; it required years of intense focus and effort. Only through this process would the multitude of big, unanswered questions be revealed.

This opportunity could have never come to fruition, indicating to modern readers that we must be proactive in the critical pursuit of our life’s task.

They [masters] excel by their ability to practice harder and move faster through the process, all of this stemming from the intensity of their desire to learn and from the deep connection they feel to their field of study. And at the core of this intensity of effort is, in fact, a quality that is genetic and inborn- not talent or brilliance, which is something that must be developed, but rather a deep and powerful inclination toward a particular subject. — Robert Greene

“Intensity of desire” becomes the ultimate emotional quality that separates masters from ordinary achievers.

This intense connection and desire allows them to withstand the pain of the process- the self-doubts, the tedious hours of practice and study, the inevitable setbacks, the endless barbs from the envious. They develop a resiliency and confidence that others lack. In our culture we tend equate thinking and intellectual powers with success and achievement. In many ways, however, it is an emotional quality that separates those who master a field from the many who simply work at a job. Our levels of desire, patience, persistence, and confidence end up playing a much larger role in success than sheer reasoning powers. Feeling motivated and energized, we can overcome almost anything. Feeling bored and restless, our minds shut off and we become increasingly passive. — Robert Greene

Chapter Summary

Mastery is designed as a journey in which the reader discovers the process within themselves. Greene uses anecdotes from ancient and contemporary masters, revealing the path to their life’s task and the acquisition of supreme intelligence.

You can use this direct link to get your copy of Mastery on Amazon. I will receive a portion of what you pay at no extra cost to you.

Chapter 1

Discover your life’s task (the most critical aspect of mastery)

Chapters 2–4

The apprenticeship phase is deeply rooted in intense learning and observation. A master, much like a hero, must go through an ordeal that forges the deep connections that make a master seem uniquely gifted. Part of this process also includes the acquisition of social intelligence — a critical skill that enables greater and increased support from mentors and others who possess unique and valuable information. Greene’s writings on social intelligence and its importance are worthy of their own book. The interaction with others is often overlooked in the quest for mastery but is a vital piece in the overall puzzle. There are too many things we don’t know and too much knowledge we must absorb to become a master without support. The mistakes alone would consume all of our time. Instead, we must learn to engage with others using methods conducive to our goals.

Chapter 5

The creative-active phase is applying the creative work developed through years of intense immersion.

Chapter 6

The achievement of mastery — a higher level of intelligence built from years of intense focus.

The bottom line is this: time to mastery equals intensity of focus.

The key, then, to attaining this higher level of intelligence is to make our years of study qualitatively rich. We don’t simply absorb information- we internalize it and make it our own by finding some to put this knowledge to practical use. If we experience any failures or setbacks, we do not quickly forget them because they offend our self-esteem. Instead, we reflect on them deeply, trying to figure out what went wrong and discern whether there any patterns to our mistakes. As we progress, we start to question some of the assumptions and conventions we have learned along the way. Soon, we begin to experiment and become increasingly active. At all points in the various moments leading to mastery, we attack with intensity. Every moment, every experience contains deep lessons for us. — Robert Greene

Aim to attack the pursuit of mastery with unmatched intensity.

Mastery is what you must seek, anything less yields a life unfulfilled.

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