Ever felt like you’re stepping on the accelerator as hard as you can but you’re still going nowhere? You’ve mapped out your destination, you’re on the road there, but no matter what you do, the scenery stays the same.
What’s going on?
Whenever you start a new sport, you start making progress, and you can see it; the serve goes faster, the weight gets heavier, the swing goes further.
And then, one day, you just stop growing.
You wonder what’s the matter; are you not training right? Even when you train more, push harder, add extra hours, nothing happens.
Here seperates the road between dabbling and mastery.
A dabbler might tell himself it’s not worth it. Maybe he’s not cut out for it. Maybe he hasn’t the talent. Maybe…maybe maybe maybes.
The future master keeps training. And one day, a miracle happens; the serve goes really fast, the weight he lifts is ridiculously heavy, and that swing just flys.
As sportspeople, we’ve all been there.
As human beings on a journey, we’re all living it.
What’s the secret that seperates a dabbler from a master?
Love.
A master doesn’t just love the destination, she also loves the journey. Car’s moving slow? Crack open a drink, let the breeze ruffle your hair, and enjoy the sights.
Plateaus happen. Stay on the road, enjoy the journey.
October 24th, 2006 at 2:00 am
Alvin, I would add that the journey means constant learning. That is what our brains need. And what makes us masters. The maybe maybe maybes you mention are roadblocks to constant learning.
See some brain images that explain the process of mastering a new skill, from what happens when we first encounter it, while we are internalizing it in a transition mode (what you call the plateau), and once it is familiar thanks to practice.
Brain exercise: how is this possible?
October 24th, 2006 at 5:38 am
Hello — I just discovered your site, and what a treat to see so much interesting material here — just the kind of thing I use for my Happiness Project, http://www.happiness-project.com. Our two blogs touch on many of the same issues. I look forward to coming back here often, to see what’s new. Stay happy! Gretchen Rubin
October 24th, 2006 at 11:54 am
Alvaro, that’s a pretty interesting post! It’s nice to know the science behind what we experience.
Hi Gretchen! I’ve been reading your blog for a while and I love it. Thanks for dropping by!
October 24th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Hi Alvin,
I consider myself a scientist-I love to evaluate, and learn from, natural phenomena in the “external” world.
But I also attended a meeting with the Dalai Lama 2 years ago, where he emphasized the need to include in our “scientific awareness” what happens inside us. Our subjective experiences. Which, to us, can be as real, if not more, than external things.
West meets East, East meets West. Will be fascinating to participate in this and next decade’s progress. Let’s appreciate today, but also what we can do for tomorrow
October 24th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Would you not say, that the master has the desire to grow? And so the master, when s/he hits a plateau, will find out why this plateau has been hit. They will persist until they get the solution and when they have the answer, they move forward even faster than before. What do you think?
October 25th, 2006 at 12:47 am
Hi Alvaro!
Wow, I wonder what it must have been like to meet the Dalai Lama! I consider it very interesting to see the further fusion of ideas between the east and the west.
As an avid student of Buddhism & Taoism in my youth, I find a striking generalization that both sides has what the other lacks, the east is very focused on the inner being while the west on the outer, and I’ve found that an extreme on either end doesn’t work.
Like the Buddhists like to say, it has to be the middle way.
Hi Amit!
I totally agree, in fact one of the characteristics of people who’ve achieved mastery is that they love growth for its own sake, not just for the end result. They love practice, and they love gaining just that extra inch of growth, and that’s what helps them keep going on.
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Aristotle said “A moral virtue is the mean between two vices”. Seems that real wisdom knows no East/ West borders
PS: just to clarify, I had a very engaging and private meeting with the Dalai Lama and probably 2,000 other people…I should have used the word “conference”. In any case, it was very good.