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Most of the time we live in an interior world of dreams, desires, and obsessive thoughts.
return to our distracted state and the sense of control is gone.
The great danger is that we give in to feelings of boredom, impatience, fear, and confusion. We stop observing and learning. The process comes to a halt.
keep practicing, we gain fluency;
In the process leading to this ultimate form of power,
Apprenticeship;
Creative-...
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Mas...
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immersion,
Through instinct, it can act quickly and effectively.
thinking and rationality to understand its environment.
Intuitive powers at the mastery level are a mix of the instinctive and the rational,
transformed themselves into the most formidable hunters on the planet.
the root of this mental transformation are two simple biological traits—the visual and the social—that primitive humans leveraged into power.
subtler,
cooperate with one another on a high level.
deep attention and focus.
visual and the social
imitate others,
social nature of primate life.
Without any visual cues or any action on the part of others, we can place ourselves inside their minds and imagine what they might be thinking.
elevate their social skills.
critical component in toolmaking—one
thinking inside
power of the mind could be unleashed only after years of experience.
what the prey might be thinking,
thinking inside would be a preverbal version of third-level intelligence—the
preverbal,
For animals, time is their great enemy.
Using time for such effect is the essential ingredient of mastery.
We become capable of handling complex situations without being overwhelmed.
The human that depended on focused attention for its survival now becomes the distracted scanning animal, unable to think in depth, yet unable to depend on instincts.
ancestors, over the course of time, managed to craft the brain into its present shape by creating a culture that could learn, change, and adapt to circumstances,
power to learn, adapt, and master time is universal.
alive with energy and focus.
This intense connection and desire allows them to withstand the pain of the process—the self-doubts, the tedious hours of practice and study, the inevitable setbacks, the endless barbs from the envious. They develop a resiliency and confidence that others lack.
Our levels of desire, patience, persistence, and confidence end up playing a much larger role in success than sheer reasoning powers. Feeling motivated and energized, we can overcome almost anything. Feeling bored and restless, our minds shut off and we become increasingly passive.
If we don’t try too much in life, if we limit our circle of action, we can give ourselves the illusion of control.
“mastery and power are evil; they are the domain of patriarchal elites who oppress us; power is inherently bad; better to opt out of the system altogether,”
lucrative.
your lack of true desire catches up with you.
Your work becomes me...
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Knowing the critical importance of desire and of your emotional connection to your work, which are the keys to mastery,
First, you must see your attempt at attaining mastery as something extremely necessary and positive.
require a tremendous amount of effort and creativity.
determining our fate.
Second, you must convince yourself of the following: people get the mind and quality of brain that they deserve through their actions in life.
our thoughts determine our mental landscape.
discovering your Life’s Task,
husbandry
