Reaping Rewards from Mastery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4v_34RRCeE

Synthesize all forms of knowledge

Greene discusses how people who have backgrounds in two unrelated fields are able to make connections that others would not, thus making them more creative by combining their knowledge (Talks at Google, 2013). A couple of examples he uses for this are Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Yoky Matsuoka, who both started their paths in one field and ended up in totally different fields. They made connections between their studies, science to poetic writing, and robotics to different scientific studies of the body. With these connections made, they were able to push past the typical boundaries their colleagues may have seen themselves constricted by, thus making incredible discoveries that changed their fields of interest forever. "The mind was designed to connect things, like a loom that knits together all of the threads of a fabric." (Greene, 2013) What I take from this is we should always be open to learning and obtaining knowledge. The more we know, the more connections we can make, and the more successful we can be. Sometimes, problems need a different approach in order to be solved, and being a Master means being able to think from different angles or perspectives to find the solution.

Internalize the details

In his book Mastery, Greene talks about internalizing the details as part of Mastery. He uses the story of Leonardo Di Vinci to explain this, but I think his story about the scientist, Pasteur is a better way to explain this (Greene, 2013). When Pasteur discovered that a weakened version of an illness could fight a normal version of the same illness other scientists were quick to dismiss this. Pasteur looked at this discovery differently because he had immersed himself in learning about germs for years and in doing so he learned every detail he could about them. Because he had paid attention to this detail he was able to eventually discover and establish a whole new section of science to be researched, Immunology (Talks at Google, 2013). "Most people don't have the patience to absorb their minds in the fine points and minutiae that are intrinsically part of their work." (Greene, 2013) Because the other scientists did not take in every detail of germs, they missed out on being a part of this great life-changing discovery. If we are going to take the time to learn something, then we should absorb all of the details with the knowledge so we can know our field inside and out, like the back of our hand (Talks at Google, 2013).

Widen you vision

Greene describes widening your vision as expanding your knowledge and experience in your field. To help explain this he tells the story of Freddie Roach, a boxer turned trainer and how widening his vision to being a great trainer vs a great boxer helped with changing boxing training in general with his discoveries (Greene, 2013). Greene also describes in his lecture how masters find anomalies and work to find solutions to them (Talks at Google, 2013). I would say this is what Freddie did because he saw an anomaly in how he was trained. His trainer had his work on each separate part of fighting and by themselves, Freddie was really good, but when he was in a fight and tried to use what he learned together with each other it was a mess. He took this anomaly and discovered a new way of training. Freddie was able to take mit training and spar with his fighters so they would be able to use every aspect of fighting all together in harmony at the moment. This revolutionized boxing training in general (Greene, 2013). To be a Master, we must embrace anomalies and use them as an inspiration for our work. This fills our need for exploring and purpose within our work and I believe it helps fight against some of the deadly realities such as flightiness because we are actively keeping our minds engaged in our fields with new challenges. Greene says the brain is a muscle and before we would use it all the time to remember phone numbers, look up directions on maps, and do simple equations are now done for us with technology, and "like any muscle, the brain can grow flabby from disuse." (Greene, 2013) By finding these anomalies and taking on the challenge we are also exercising our brains more than the average person, which I believe ends up helping us elevate ourselves to a Mastery level.

Design Thinking

Design thinking will help with my mastery journey by reminding me to keep my mind open and look for alternative ways of working through challenges. "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." (Moote, 2013) Through all of the different professional opportunities I have had a chance to partake in, I always pride myself on being flexible, open-minded, and willing to learn. Being stuck in a certain way of learning will cause your flow of knowledge to be stagnant.

Mastery & Design Thinking

Reading through Mastery and Design Thinking during this course has been almost life-changing in a way. Learning about all of these different ways of thinking and approaches to life has really opened up my mind to the different perspectives a master takes in when looking for a solution. "Creativity and adaptability are inseparable." (Greene, 2013) I have lived my life by attempting to look for alternative solutions to problems and it's really validating to see I was on the right path when others would consider it 'weird' or out of the norm. "Humankind has survived thus far because we can work well together, communicate, empathize, anticipate, understand, and exchange. Design thinking is a reflection of these abilities." (Mootee, 2013) I think design thinking is something we as a species had in the beginning and as we evolved humans changed their way of thinking to become more focused on the wrong goals (fame, money, etc.). Now it seems we are changing the way to think again, back to design thinking. We are shifting our morals towards being more understanding of others which makes us work better together and towards goals of finding solutions rather than making a profit. These lessons will help with my next steps by helping me stay open-minded, continue to have a regular flow of knowledge, and approach problems from different angles.

References

Greene, R. (2013). Mastery [5]. Retrieved May 3, 2021, from Amazon

Mootee, I. (2013). Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation: What They Can’t Teach You at Business or Design School. Retrieved from https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/design-thinking-for/9781118748688/xhtml/Chapter03.html#sec9

Talks at Google. (2013, April). Mastery | Robert Greene | Talks at Google. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4v_34RRCeE