To become world class in anything, we must put in 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. That is 8 hours every day without fail for 3.5 years. Whether we want to master public speaking or getting rich, this is the price we need to pay. We all know this.
For years, I have been searching for 'shortcut' to challenge these 'rules' of mastery. I found no answer to this. Until recently, a Taekwondo master shared his "4 Essence of Mastery" with me. Now, I share his wisdom with all of you here.
"The First Heaven essence is 'Removal of mediocrity. It is simply willingness to be better than yesterday. It is simple as improvement of 1% each time we practice. Just like removing one speech crutch each time we speak. Or refrain from buying that one Starbucks so that we can channel our money to financial freedom. Yet, not many willing to practice this. Why? It is easier to give only 90%, 80% and fall back to comfort zone. Try practice 10,000 times with 80% effort. We will go nowhere.
The Second Water essence is 'Remain open, remain receptive'. The truth is, there are masters who are better than us. To take ourselves to the next level, all we need to do is to remain open to new ways of practicing our field. Maybe we can adopt NLP into our speech. Maybe we can embrace digital marketing in our business. It will improve our effectiveness and open new opportunities. Yet, not many willing to practice this. Why? Because of our own ego has stopped us from being open and receptive.
The Third Earth essence is 'Develop compassion for ourselves.' For countless times, we reprimanded ourselves in event of failure. "I should not have said this in my speech. I should not have invested money in share market..." Deep down, we feel we deserved to suffer because of our mistake. This will become our emotional block. Who does not make any mistake in road towards mastery? Instead, I invite you to consider mistakes are the evidence that you are on right track to mastery. Yet, not many willing to practice this. Why? Because it is easier to self-pity than self-compassion with responsibility. The former does not require any action. The later requires discipline of self-affirmation and determination to give it one more try.
The Fourth Fire essence is 'Dismissal of resentment towards masters." This is refiner fire that burns our impurity towards mastery. We often hear these words: 'She is talented. It is easy for her to speak on stage.' Or 'Rich people are greedy. They get the money through unscrupulous means. They got projects because of 'cable'. It is because of this resentment we are not able to learn the best practices from masters. How can you learn from someone you resent? Yet, not many willing to practice this. Why? Because it is easy to envy than putting in hardwork, easy to criticize than be courageous to take actions.
Alan, I believe these 4 Essence of Mastery will take your growth to your next level. Maybe it is a shortcut that you are looking for. Maybe it is not, as it requires more out of you."
As I ponder upon the words from the Taekwondo master, I realized that mechanical practice is not enough. It must be coupled with emotional mastery to reach our true potential. It requires us to look deep into the relationship with ourselves and others. The word "Master" means this person had made significant difference to himself and people around him.
As Lao Tzu said: "Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power."
By the authority of Toasmaster International vested in me, mandate given by club members as President, guided by 4 Essence of Mastery, I hereby declare our meeting officially starts.
1 September 2020.
L1P2.2 Persuasive Influence
Presentation slide:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zWLuK-fnza6NLIHwafmC3lAZ5Qviwits/view?usp=sharing
Presidential Speech 01: Grow and Blossom
Presidential Speech 02: Begin with the End in Mind
Presidential Speech 03: Who Am I
Presidential Speech 04: Be Bravely You
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