Inspiration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BODHsU3hDo4

The Authentic Voice

Randy discusses following his childhood dreams, but more specifically his dream of being an Imagineer for Disney. Along the way to accomplishing this dream, he had gotten rejection after rejection. (Pausch, 2008) This reminded me of John Coltrane, a jazz saxophonist that had such a unique sound to him, no one wanted him in their troupe. Robert Greene discusses Coltrane in his section explaining the Authentic Voice, meaning to own who you are and use it as a strength. (Greene, 2013) Coltrane and Randy both had dreams where they thought in order to accomplish them, they had to learn from others and adapt their skills to match everyone else’s in order to succeed. This led to many rejections for both of them along the way, but as soon as they started to take control of their own path and follow their true skills is when they started crushing their goals. Greene said, “What you mistake for being creative and distinctive is more likely an imitation of other people’s style, or personal rantings that do not really express anything.” (Greene, 2013, p. 209) Once they found their authentic voice by Coltrane letting out his unique sound to figure out where it was going and Randy following his specific path into robotics is when they started accomplishing goals.

As mentioned before, I haven’t been confident in my skills and tend to curve my style of doing things to meet the needs of others. Staying true to who I am will grow my confidence in myself and help me to really find my place within this program and my field.

Keys to Mastery

At the beginning of chapter 5, Green discusses the Keys to Mastery and starts out by talking about different mindsets people have throughout their life. He labels the childhood carefree mind as the “Original Mind” and that as we grow older our minds start tightening up and being less carefree or creative, earning the label of the “Conventional Mind”. Greene states, “Masters and those who display a high level of creative energy are simply people who manage to retain a sizeable portion of their childhood spirit despite the pressures and demand of adulthood.” (Greene, 2013, p. 176) Randy talks about being raised by parents that encouraged a childlike mind in the sense of following the wonder and thought process of a child. (Pausch, 2008) I believe this enhanced his ability to follow his dreams and become an Imagineer because he was able to keep the childlike wonder alive in himself through the harder times.

In the last year, I have felt this thought process come back to me. It has helped me keep a positive outlook and keep whatever team I was working with together and on task. I think I can use this same process to help keep me on task and work through harder obstacles. The Evolutionary Highjack

Randy goes through this whole presentation by giving advice and explaining how it had worked for him growing up, then at the end of the lecture, he throws in a plot twist by saying that he created the lecture NOT for the students who were attending, but actually for his kids. (Pausch, 2008) This reminded me of Greene’s talk about the Evolutionary Highjack where he discusses how our minds evolve and so our thinking does as well. He specifically says, “When we see or experience something we must be able to look at it from different angles, to see other possibilities beyond the obvious ones.” (Greene, 2013, p. 236)

Randy told us how he developed the lecture for his kids to hear one day was never a possibility I had thought of. I am constantly trying to think outside of the box for the not-so-obvious answers when it comes to life in general, as well as teach my son the cliché, but the effective lesson to never judge a book by its cover. I believe these go hand in hand and can be incredibly effective for me through this Mastery journey. There is always more than one answer to a problem and it’s our jobs as pupils to test the waters for those answers now before doing so in the professional world. References Pausch, R. YouTube, Rob Logan, 26 May 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=BODHsU3hDo4&t=421s. Greene, R. (2013). Mastery [5]. Retrieved May 3, 2021, from Amazon