Overview- This book is a deep dive into the idea of excellence in any given field. This book thoroughly changed my perspective on how to be great in a given field or activity. 10,000 hours of practice is what is needed to ensure you are elite in your field, but this book presents the everything else which must happen for a person to be tremendously successful. Reading this book after graduating college and looking for a job it started a process of reading that I continue now. During that time, I would read for 40 minutes at a time. Setting the timer and being engulfed by story after story of all-time greats in the fields of music, business, and politics in this book. This book is one of my favorites in my library for its ability to give me the power of action on how to reach my goals. In this book a story of John Coltrane was told and after reading it I looked up Coltrane and I have been hooked on to his music ever since. Robert Greene is a great writer one of my most favorites.
Theme- Mastery is achieved by levels of expertise. One must internalize the keys of the piano, the prospects of business and the moves of political arenas. Each stage requires a different level of focus. In this book Robert Greene talks about how hobbies are good for mastery because they give individuals the ability to see trends in something like running and their trade of work they want to master. These hobbies are portals on how to reach mastery. Through these connections many greats have found success.
Biggest takeaway- In this book hobbies serve as a way to further your understanding of your given study. If you want to be an expert lawyer learning to play the piano can greatly beneficial because of the way it connects different ideas similar to the way piano pieces connects notes. This is one of the major emphasis for mastery because the mind is prone to rigidity with continuous hours of study and practice; having hobbies outside your focus brings a life to your focus which allows for it to burst with life developing new pathways for connections and boarding understanding. I was introduced to John Coltrane through this writing because of his mastery of the saxophone. Robert goes on to explain how Coltrane plays the saxophone making it speak this captivated me how he explained it. I played his greatest hits album, and the first song was “A Love Supreme” and I have been hooked ever since. Lastly, from this title are the levels of Mastery. Ways to elevate the discourse you are in similar to Coltrane. He is able to not only manipulate the saxophone but give it a new way of sounding. To bend the genre of jazz where Coltrane is not just a musician but a verb or an adjective. This level of mastery is developed through copious amounts of practice trial and error and innovation this leads breaking barriers of sound, thought and policy which puts one name in annals of history for all time.
Overall Satisfaction – 9.75/10 Great Read flawless delivery and exceptional storytelling.
Comments on the Author- Robert Greene is one of my most favorite authors. I frequent his writings often. The way he tells stories with history and especially with this book able to intertwine the lives of such great men and women to provide insight to mastery is brilliant. I appreciate him for his work and look forward to a new book from him often.
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