Day #50 - Dabbler, Obsessive, Hacker

I finally got my own copy of the book club book "Mastery" by George Leonard. The book club meeting is tomorrow and I am only just caught up to what we read last week, but I found out the rocky path to mastery is often pitted with failed efforts in the following forms:

* The Dabbler...excited to start a new goal or enterprise and approaches each new area with 'enourmous enthusiasm' only to peter off when faced with the plateau.

* The Obsessive...a bottom-line type of person who must see immediate results, quick fixes. Once he gets to the plateau he can't accept it, must move upward and efforts are redoubled creating steep peaks and deep valleys.

* The Hacker...once he/she gets the hang of a thing they are content to remain 'as is' staying on the plateau indefinitely.

I can see myself in each one of these in various areas of my life. I remember talking to my boss in the recent past about life and he said life is composed of three main areas and all three must be in balance for true success or happiness (maybe not the exact words he used, but I believe I got the idea). These three areas are 1) Health, 2) Relationships (love, family, spiritual), 3) Career (this doesn't necessarily mean an actual job and I even think I have the word wrong - will have to review my notes).

When I look at these 3 areas I see the Dabbler, Obsessive and Hacker in one or more of them. If I was to pick one over all the others, I would say the Dabbler is the one I most relate to. I don't think I can count the number of goals I have started out with enormous enthusiasm, writing lists, working up schedules, buying the latest gadget to get me where I need to go, etc. I start out strong and see results and then don't follow through when the results slow or stop all together. I get disorganized and unmotivated to continue. I have certainly not learned to love the journey, to love the plateau.

Here is a direct quote I liked from the book:

"Goals and contingencies are important. But they exist in the future and in the past, beyond the pale of the sensory realm. Practice, the path of mastery, exists only in the present. You can see it, hear it, smell it, feel it. To love the plateau is to love the eternal now, to enjoy the inevitable spurts of progress and the fruits of accomplishment, then serenely to accept the new plateau that waits just beyond them. To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life."

At the very first of the book it asks you to touch your forehead. It is such an easy thing to do, so automatic, but even this skill had to be mastered through a series of developments and practice, learning to control the hand and direct it to that certain spot. As a baby it was impossible to master this function without learning self awareness, watching others, lots of practice, language recognition, etc. George Leonard contends that if we were able to master a skill as difficult as touching our foreheads, we can learn to do just about anything with enough joy in the journey.

I Am Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: "No matter where you go, there you are" Buckaroo Banzai