10,000 HOURS TO MASTERY
Master Prophet E. Bernard Jordan
LESSON 9
THE DAO OF MASTERY
“The birth of the new constitutes a crisis, and
its mastery calls for a crude and simple cast of
mind -- the mind of a fighter -- in which the virtues
of tribal cohesion and fierceness and infantile
credulity and malleability are paramount. Thus
every new beginning recapitulates in some
degree man's first beginning.”
(Eric Hoffer)
WARRIOR STRENGTH
• The spirits you encounter on your journey to
mastery will reflect only the person you are
becoming.
• That new self must include a warrior’s strength, a
runner’s endurance and a poet’s gift for
inspiration.
• Why?
• The purpose of mastery is to project it outward, to
use it to teach others, create new things or
change society.
• A warrior’s strength is needed because there will
always be an inherent resistance to the novel.
WARRIOR STRENGTH (CON’T)
• Reg Revans, British scholar, said, “Unless your
ideas are ridiculed by experts, they are worth
nothing.”
• You must fight to have that which you create with
your mastered skills accepted by others.
• In the 1990s, Jeff Bezos was ridiculed by
financiers and businesspeople alike for an
audacious new commerce idea that everyone was
sure would fail.
• Bezos stuck to his guns and believed in his vision.
He resurrected his company time and time again
and kept it going until the rest of the world caught
up with his idea. (Amazon.com)
THE GOALS OF MASTERY
• You must have a runner’s endurance:
• Needed because you will spend years of false
starts and resistance to create something from
your mastery.
• The goals of mastery:
• Transform yourself
• Serve and teach others
• Bring something new into the world
THE GOALS OF MASTERY (CON’T)
• The creation of the new always battles existing
currents.
• A new company or invention demands many
years of work to become accepted, if it ever is.
• Sometimes, it is not accepted until after the
creator’s death. You must persist.
• The time that the journey to mastery takes is not
so only because it requires 10,000 hours of
repetition to achieve excellence at something.
• By the time you reach mastery, the price you have
paid is so high you will endure anything to
vindicate your sacrifice and bring your mastery to
fruition.
COMMUNICATORS
• The eloquence of a poet is needed because you
are also an ambassador for human potential.
• You must be able to communicate your
experience and its rewards to others.
• Masters are also communicators, filled with the
spirit of God and their own passion.
• Jesus, King, Gandhi, Mandela, all orators of
matchless skill and courage.
• You should be able to convince others that the
price you have paid is worth it.
• Your best weapon to do this is yourself.
EXHIBIT COURAGE
• How do you live? Are you healthy? Joyful?
Prosperous?
• You are your most eloquent testimony.
• As Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the word
whenever possible. When necessary, use
words.”
• Mastery is a conscious decision to move beyond
your natural talent, to admit that your talent is
insufficient.
• Everyone you encounter on your journey will be a
reflection of the courage you show in admitting
that your natural ability is not enough and
stepping into the unknown.
EXHIBIT COURAGE (CON’T)
• The more profound your courage, the more you
will encounter others who bring new light to your
road.
• The trek to mastery leads you into undiscovered
country.
• Along the way, you will find allies who will help
you make progress.
• The nature of those you attract to your purpose
will depend entirely on who you are becoming and
what your purpose is.
• Like attracts like. Greed attracts greed. Love
attracts love. What is your purpose attracting?
10,000 HOURS TO MASTERY
Master Prophet E. Bernard Jordan
LESSON 9
THE DAO OF MASTERY