Book Report
“Mastery- The Keys To Success And Long-Term Fulfillment By: George Leonard” While trying to do better in our lives and improving ourselves, it is hard to master something well. This often can get us down on ourselves and make it hard to accomplish our goals. Mastery (The book) helps you better see that mastery is not a finite action or something that is achieved overnight. I learned a great deal from some of the insights and I will aim to focus on the principals in this book that matter most to me and I could use, later in life. George Leonard, was a man of great skill and insight. He used his understanding of Aikido to attach the internal needs we strive for to achieve mastery. It is a book filled with ways to keep on working and persisting to gain the mastery of anything. One of the first lessons I learned from reading this book was to understand myself. I needed to ask myself, what kind of person I was in my desire to master something. When he discusses the path of endless climax, I can sometimes find myself feeling that “need for speed” per say. I am the kid who quits his job because he could win the tickets. If it was not for the teachings of the church and the fact that I listen well to counsel given to us by our prophets, I would try for the get rich quick idea. I could apply this and read this over and over again and I enjoy the stories in the book and in this section. It can help me to see that there is no greater joy than for working hard for something and acknowledging that I tend to think this way. It helps to be able to talk myself out of it. It turns out, that this way of thinking is a war that cannot be won and we should know that it does not bring a good end.
Another area of the book that I could apply in my own business is the 3rd key to mastery: Surrender. To surrender means to surrender to the “demands of your teacher” (Mastery). At work, we could see that as the boss or even ourselves. We have to learn to surrender so that we could gain a bit more knowledge. Since I have been doing the same thing for 16 years, I could get caught up in the, “I am right” attitude. It is hurting me right now and this was a good time to hear this. I actually lost my job yesterday. At that moment it did not matter what I knew. Luckily there was another owner nearby that needs a Director at their center, so I will be ok, but when the new boss called me, I surrendered. I listened to him and I was willing to go to training and just about do anything. This man was successful at what he does, and while he valued my experience, he was quick to call me a team player and would like to have me join his team. While it is a quick read, it is packed with great tools to understand how achieving mastery is a fine art and balance. The most interesting story is given in chapter 13: Household Rhythm. It caught my attention, given that I hate to wash dishes. Even that analogy can help in the future, so that I can find the balance and meditation to finish something right, or with mastery. I take this assignment for example. I looked to see how much of my grade it was worth. Please don’t take it personal. It is about that time in the semester, where you could sacrifice a few points to relax for a week if you have been doing well. I thought about this example in the book. I laughed at myself and what I had learned from reading and here I am near the end of the report. This is what I love about school and books like this. There are many different applications for this book in business and life. I enjoyed the quick read and I look forward to keeping this book close to me and to have the ability to share it with others. The lord has prepared a well balance approach to life if we follow his plan. Along the way in life we are reminded by good teachings like this, which we can work hard to master anything we want.