thoughts.on.code

Last night I read Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fullfillment by George Leonard.

This is a really good book, and has left me thinking about what I want out of this life. It starts out by describing the four types of people out there: The Dabbler, The Obsessive, The Hacker, and the Master. I fall into those first three types, depending on what “skill” we are talking about, though I would say that I am a combination of The Dabbler and The Hacker most of the time. The Dabbler can be characterized as a person who is really gung-ho on a “new thing” for a certain amount of time, and then when they reach a plateau they lose interest. The Hacker by the fact that they are happy to stay at the Plateau and “hack around” at that level. I easily lose interest in things that are not “fun” for me, while the things that are “fun”, but are hard I usually stay at the same level forever. For instance, I love playing the guitar, but am not good at it, and have never had instruction. I know a few riffs and a couple songs that I invariably fall into whenever I pick one up. My wife just rolls her eyes whenever I do this because she knows exactly what notes are going to come out. This is Hacking at its best.

The path to Mastery, however, is different:

We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.

These few sentences sum up the entire book. When I read this, my mind immediately went to a picture of a stream trickling down a hill, right next to a large waterfall. Imagine which water would taste better: the foamy water straight from the waterfall, or the water that comes from the stream, trickling downhill, picking up nutrients and minerals as it progressed. My bet is with the stream water.

We are a society of quick-fix steroetypes and ideals. This book reminded me of what being a journeyman is supposed to be like. It has been a long time since I have practiced anything, but I am inspired by this book to get into the habit of daily practice, of becoming a master.