'Mastery' Robert Greene

I feel I need to highly recommend an amazing book. For anyone that struggles with any kind of creativity, on a daily basis, this book is very inspiring. To stay motivated is always difficult, we all reach plateaus. This book uses real life examples of those who achieved mastery through sheer hard work -is there any other way? - Everyone from Mozart, Faraday, Leonardo da Vinci and Darwin has undertaken this process, he advocates the (now disparaged) apprenticeship system.

"The problem with all students, he said, is that they inevitably stop somewhere. They hear an idea and they hold onto it until it becomes dead; they want to flatter themselves that they know the truth. But true Zen never stops, never congeals into such truths. That is why everyone must be pushed to the abyss, starting over and feeling their utter worthlessness as a student. Without suffering and doubts, the mind will come to rest on clichés and stay there, until the spirit dies as well. Not even enlightenment is enough. you must continually start over and challenge yourself" -Shoju - 'Mastery' Robert Greene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My1BiC1saaQ&feature=share&list=LLi74w90HQMDM53s7wm3Oy3g&index=1

http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/20-powerful-lessons-in-the-art-of-mastery-by-robert-greene/

20 Lessons Of Mastery Learned From Robert Greene
 1 - Understand who you truly are, and what kind of vocation or career you feel called to do.
2 - Commit to an apprenticeship, in which you undergo years of humble observation, skill acquisition, and experimentation.
3 - Revert to a feeling of inferiority, and possess and deep humility and eagerness to learn from others.
4 - Move toward resistance and pain, let go of need for comfort/security, and cross the threshold past the initial tedious stages of learning.
5 - After apprenticeship phase, you must become bold, confident, and willing to test out skills and make connections between different ideas.
6 - Learn to embrace criticism and failure, and be grateful for the opportunity to learn and improve as a result of your mistakes.
7 - Understand that there is an emotional component, not intellectual, that separates the true masters from others.
8 - Develop your social intelligence, and your ability to empathetically put yourself in another person’s shoes and see/understand things from his or her perspective.
9 - Move past the habitual tendency to judge others or idealize/demonize them, and simply observe them rather than projecting your own thoughts, emotions, or insecurities onto them.
10 - You must be wary of many peoples’ tendencies to display certain vices that could hinder your progress, such as: envy, conformism, rigidity, self-obsessiveness, laziness, flightiness, and passive aggression.
11 - Learn to speak through your work, and to win others to your side of thinking by being patient and letting what you have done speak for itself.
12 - Try to see yourself as other see you, so that you can remain emotionally detached and try to improve upon your flaws and shortcomings.
13 - Suffer fools gladly, and don’t take criticism seriously or personally from people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
14 - Return to your childlike sense of wonder and endless curiosity about all things in order to stimulate your creative energy.
15 - Drop all preconceived notions about he world, and utilize the power of your imagination to the fullest.
16 - Always be open and receptive to new ideas that challenge conventionality, and don’t be afraid of thinking something that is unpopular.
17 - Love learning for its own sake, and connect a wide array of ideas from different fields of study and disciplines.
18 - Maintain a sense of destiny/purpose and feel consciously connected to it.
19 - Qualities that will help you succeed: Self-discipline, desire, persistence, focus, effort, patience, energy, obsessiveness, observance, confidence, trust in self, emotional commitment, humility, adaptability, boldness, openness.
20 - Qualities that hinder your success: Complacency, conservatism, dependency, impatience, grandiosity, inflexibility, distractibility, becoming egotistical, close-mindedness.