1.
…people get the mind and quality of brain that they deserve through their actions in life.
2.
[Leonardo da Vinci’s] mind, he decided, worked best when he had several different projects at hand, allowing him to build all kinds of connections between them
3.
Do not envy those who seem to be naturally gifted; it is often a curse, as such types rarely learn the value of diligence and focus, and they pay for this later in life.
4.
Practical knowledge is the ultimate commodity, and is what will pay you dividends for decades to come—far more than the paltry increase in pay you might receive at some seemingly lucrative position that offers fewer learning opportunities. This means that you move toward challenges that will toughen and improve you, where you will get the most objective feedback on your performance and progress. You do not choose apprenticeships that seem easy and comfortable.
5.
Too many people believe that everything must be pleasurable in life, which makes them constantly search for distractions and short-circuits the learning process.
6.
People who do not practice and learn new skills never gain a proper sense of proportion or self-criticism. They think they can achieve anything without effort and have little contact with reality.
7.
…concentrated practice over time cannot fail but produce results.
8.
Mistakes and failures are precisely your means of education. They tell you about your own inadequacies.
9.
Without suffering and doubts, the mind will come to rest on cliches and stay there, until the spirit dies as well.
10.
We tend to laugh at people prior to the twentieth century who did not yet believe in evolution and who saw the world as only 6,000 years old, but imagine how people will be laughing at us for the naive beliefs we hold in the twenty-first century!
11.
The feeling that we have endless time to complete our work has an insidious and debilitating effect on our minds. Our attention and thoughts become diffused. Our lack of intensity makes it hard for the brain to jolt into a higher gear. The connections do not occur. For this purpose you must always try to work with deadlines, whether real or manufactured.
12.
The real thinker sees the connections, grasps the essence of the life force operating in every individual instance. Why should any individual stop at poetry, or find art unrelated to science, or narrow his or her intellectual interests? The mind was designed to connect things, like a loom that knits together all the threads of a fabric.
13.
…the Ideal of the Universal Man—a person so steeped in all forms of knowledge that his mind grows closer to the reality of nature itself and sees secrets that are invisible to most people.
14.
You cannot ultimately understand why you are drawn to certain activities or forms of knowledge. This cannot really be verbalized or explained. It is simply a fact of nature.
Read More: “Mastery” on Amazon
#11–Yes, Yes, YES. Dammit this is good. I wasn’t planning on buying this book, but i”m reconsidering. R
I don’t know about this one ▬ for any type of deep thinking I’ve often found it a hindrance to pay attention/work to deadlines.
The pressure can make your concentration shift from ideas before you’ve had a real chance to fully explore them. This means you are not as adept at innovating/adapting them at a later time.
I feel what really helps you understand a principle is by playing with it in a relaxed fashion, rather than going at it all INTENSE [which is my natural inclination].
Putting pressure on yourself works brilliantly when you’ve mastered the skills/material, but not before then. You are just to clumsy/novice to make use of it under stress before then.
#11–Yes, Yes, YES. Dammit this is good. I wasn’t planning on buying this book, but i”m reconsidering. R
Real wisdom here. I think I’m going to read the book….thanks Roosh.
#13 got me.
btw, what up with the article picture?! haha!
I think it’s the author with 50 cent, they co-wrote a book together.
Anyway this book looks cool, thanks Roosh.
#13 got me too: experience the world as infinite mystery 🙂 You never know complete mystery you have to continually step forward in this knowledge and this corresponds human aspiration.
#12 is on the money
I don’t know which one of these I’d call the most important. They’re all really good points. If I had to pick I’d say 5-9. They all sorta have the same theme; bad things in your life can be good. Learning from the bad things in my life has thought me more than anything else.
#5 seems especially relevant, since we’re living with constant distraction and way too much instant pleasure. “Too many people believe that everything must be pleasurable in life, which makes them constantly search for distractions and short-circuits the learning process.”
GREAT STUFF
Once again, public service. Thank you Roosh!
Simply beautiful.
a great book by Greene. Thanks Roosh for highlighting these intriguing points.
Another pop-psychology book. Instead of dying for success, it is better to die for happiness. I am with my REBT and CBT books.