“Man who catch fly with chopstick, accomplish anything.“
Mr Miyagi in The Karate Kid
We all know someone who appears to have effortless mastery of a skill or talent. It may be the friend who plays the piano beautifully, the colleague who is an accomplished baker, or the old schoolmate who achieved national sporting success.
While environment and natural talent may play some part, an even larger part is not natural but the result of hours of training and practice. As The Karate Kid‘s Mr Miyagi would assert, “Practice makes perfect”. Sensei Miyagi however also had a role imparting his years of acquired knowledge to his young protege. Mastery extends not just to the process of studying and practicing but also the the methods of teaching.
In his new book The real work: on the mystery of mastery, author Adam Gopnik notes masters of a skill are, for the most part, everyday people “… who are, often for the most eccentric of reasons or with the most improbably eccentric practices and teaching methods, able to impart something of what they know”.
The ability to learn or master a skill is important in the workplace, but so too is the ability to impart knowledge to others.
In the process of researching his book, Gopnik studied magicians, undertook art lessons, learned to drive, informally apprenticed himself to his mother in order to learn to bake bread, sought instruction from a Muay Thai boxer (despite professed lack of sporting prowess), and took up ballroom dancing with his daughter. Throughout all this, Gopnik examines the process by which we learn, master, and teach new skills.
Even though we may not think of ourselves as masters of a skill set or task, years of practice mean that for many in our workplaces, we know much more than we think we do.
The real work : on the mystery of mastery / Gopnik, Adam
“In The Real Work-the term magicians use for the accumulated craft that makes for a great trick-Gopnik becomes a dedicated student of several masters of their craft: a classical painter, a boxer, a dancing instructor, a driving instructor, and others. Rejecting self-help bromides and bullet points, he nevertheless shows that the top people in any field share a set of common qualities and methods. For one, their mastery is always a process of breaking down and building up-of identifying and perfecting the small constituent parts of a skill and the combining them for an overall effect greater than the sum of those parts. For another, mastery almost always involves intentional imperfection-as in music, where vibrato, a way of not quite landing on the right note, carries maximum expressiveness. Gopnik’s simplest and most invigorating lesson, however, is that we are surrounded by mastery. Far from rare, mastery is commonplace, if we only know where to look: from the parent who can whip up a professional strudel to the social worker who-in one of the most personally revealing passages Gopnik has ever written-helps him master his own demons. Spirited and profound, The Real Work will help you understand how mastery can happen in your own life-and, significantly, why each of us relentlessly seeks to better ourselves in the first place”–Publisher’s description.” (Catalogue)
You can hear Gopnik’s RNZ interview Why mastery is better than being a master here and watch his Youtube The Real Work – How We Learn & Master New Skills
Want to learn more? Try these titles from Wellington City Libraries collections.
Range : why generalists triumph in a specialized world / Epstein, David J.
“What’s the most effective path to success in any domain? It’s not what you think. Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule. David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields–especially those that are complex and unpredictable–generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see. Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, [this book] makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.”–Dust jacket.” (Catalogue)
Also available in EAudiobook Overdrive format and EBook Overdrive
Peak : secrets from the new science of expertise / Ericsson, K. Anders
“Almost all of us have the seeds of excellence within us– it’s just a question of nurturing them by reducing expertise to a discrete series of attainable practices. Ericsson and Pool introduce an incredibly powerful approach to learning that is fundamentally different from the way people traditionally think about acquiring a skill, and offer invaluable, often counterintuitive, advice on setting goals, getting feedback, identifying patterns, and motivating yourself.” (Catalogue)
Micromastery : learn small, learn fast, and find the hidden path to happiness / Twigger, Robert
“We read that we must be passionate about only one thing, that 10,000 hours of hard practice is needed to achieve mastery. But in fact most successful people, including Nobel prize winners, nurture multiple areas of knowledge and activity that feed their central subject. Whether it’s making a perfect souffle, dancing a tango or lighting a fire, when we take the time to cultivate small and quantifiable areas of expertise, we change everything. We become faster and more fearless learners, spot more creative opportunities, improve our brain health and boost our happiness. We see knowledge itself completely differently. The skills acquired in painting a door flawlessly or growing delicious chillies will unexpectedly transform your life. So start small. Start specific. But start – and you’ll be on the path to mastery.” (Catalogue)
Mastery / Greene, Robert
“The #1 New York Times-bestseller from the author of The 48 Laws of Power Each one of us has within us the potential to be a Master. Learn the secrets of the field you have chosen, submit to a rigorous apprenticeship, absorb the hidden knowledge possessed by those with years of experience, surge past competitors to surpass them in brilliance, and explode established patterns from within. Study the behaviors of Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Leonardo da Vinci and the nine contemporary Masters interviewed for this book. The bestseller author of The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and The 33 Strategies of War, Robert Greene has spent a lifetime studying the laws of power. Now, he shares the secret path to greatness. With this seminal text as a guide, readers will learn how to unlock the passion within and become masters.” (Catalogue) Available in EAudiobook Libby format only
Interviews with the masters : a companion to Robert Greene’s mastery / Greene, Robert
“A companion to Robert Greene’s Mastery. More than 20,000 hours of research and thought went into Mastery. In a departure from his previous works, Robert Greene interviewed nine contemporary masters, including tech guru Paul Graham, animal rights advocate Temple Grandin, and boxing trainer Freddie Roach, to get their perspective on their paths to greatness. Those interviews are now available to readers for the first time. Interviews with the Masters presents more than 700 pages of revealing insight directly from these contemporary Masters; from how they learn and think, to how they put it all together and create. ” (Adapted from Catalogue). EBook Libby format only
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