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The trouble is that we have few, if any, maps to guide us on the

journey or even to show us how to find the path. The modern

world, in fact, can be viewed as a prodigious conspiracy against

mastery. We're continually bombarded with promises ofimmediate gratification, instant success, and fast, temporary

relief, all of which lead in exactly the wrong direction. Later,

we'll take a look at the uick!fix, anti!mastery mentality that

pervades our society, and see how it not only prevents us from

developing our potential skills but threatens our health,

education, career, relationships, and perhaps even our national

economic viability.

The evidence is clear" all of us who are born without serious

genetic defects are born geniuses. Without an iota of formal

instruction, we can master the overarching symbolic system of

spoken language# and not just one language but several. We

can decipher the complex code of facial expressions#a feat to

paraly$e the circuitry of even the most powerful computer. We

can decode and in one way or another express the subtleties ofemotional nuance. %ven without formal schooling, we can make

associations, create abstract categories, and construct

meaningful hierarchies. What's more, we can invent things never

before seen, ask uestions never before asked, and seek answers

from out beyond the stars. &nlike computers, we can fall in love.

The mastery curve

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There's really no way around it. Learning any new skill involves

relatively brief spurts of progress, each of which is followed by

a slight decline to a plateau somewhat higher in most cases than

that which preceded it. The curve above is necessarily ideali$ed.n the actual learning experience, progress is less regular( the

upward spurts vary( the plateaus have their own dips and rises

along the way. )ut the general progression is almost always the

same. To take the master's journey, you have to practice

diligently, striving to hone your skills, to attain new levels of

competence. )ut while doing so#and this is the inexorable fact

of the journey#you also have to be willing to spend most of

your time on a plateau, to keep practicing even when you seemto be getting nowhere.

*ow do you best move toward mastery+ To put it simply, you

practice diligently, but you practice primarilyfor the sake of the

practice itself. ather than being frustrated while on the plateau,

you learn to appreciate and enjoy it just as much as you do the

upward surges.