Path to Mastery not Average

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”

By nature, we humans shrink from anything that seems possibly painful or overtly difficult.
We bring this natural tendency to our development of any skill. Once we grow adept at some aspect of this skill, generally the one that comes more easily to us, we prefer to practice this element over and over.
We tend to also be quite conventional in our practice routines. We generally follow what others have done, performing the accepted exercises for these skills.
We become average. We settle for being mediocre at it.

Resistance Practice

To acquire mastery, you must do what is called “Resistance Practice”….

What is it? you go in the opposite direction of all of your natural tendencies when it comes to practice.

First, you resist the temptation to be nice to yourself.

You move towards the pain.
You become your own worst critic; you see your work as if through the eyes of others. You recognise your weakness, precisely the elements you are not good at. Those are the aspects you give precedence to in your practice. You find a kind of perverse pleasure in moving past the pain this might bring.

Second, you resist the lure of easing up on your focus.

You train yourself to concentrate in practice with double the intensity, as if it were the real thing times two. In creating your own routines, you become as creative as possible. You invent exercises that work upon your weaknesses. You give yourself tight deadlines to meet certain standards, constantly pushing yourself past perceived limits. In this way you develop your own standards for excellence. In the end, your five hours of intense, focused work are the equivalent of ten for most people. Soon enough you will see the results of such practice, and others will marvel at the apparent ease in which you accomplish your deeds.

“Every life form & species seems to strive to its maximum except human beings. How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it possibly can. Human beings, on the other hand, have been given the dignity of choice. You can choose to be all or you can choose to be less. Why not stretch up to the full measure of the challenge and see what all you can do?”

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