Mastery - The Surest Recipe To Success

“You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?” - Maulana Rumi

Since time immemorial, man is in constant pursuit of better than the best. To attain this objective, he has led voyages over the most turbulent of seas, tamed the fierce storms, trekked the treacherous deserts, and even explored the most godforsaken islands.

He has endured hardships spanning months and even years. Amongst many other factors, the driving force that led him to success was the willingness to continue even when there was no progress in sight and odds were stacked quite heavily against him. He had strong spiritual principles in life that inevitably lead him to splendid victories.

With the advancement in technology, this all seems like a memory of a distant past. The world has become so fast-paced and the paradigm has shifted in almost all spheres of life but the real dilemma is a shift in society’s perception of success. Now, society glorifies the endless moments of climax and has made us addicted to quick fixes, instant success, and easy results. “Victory at all costs” is the reigning mantra, the focus remains only on the end product, and the process that can offer the easiest shortcut to ‘so-called success’, is deemed the most viable.

Quick Fix - Quick Frustrations

These moments of triumph are too short-lived and can never bring satisfaction as they are devoid of strategic planning. Contrary to the popular belief, this quick-fix mentality is the primary reason for the prevalent chaos and hollowness in today’s world. The chasing of temporary goals without any lifelong commitment only breeds confusion, frustration, and discontentment. The quick-fix approach isn’t self-destructive only for individuals themselves but can also have a toxic effect on all those who are proudly associated with them, as the close social circle inevitably becomes a victim of one’s frustration.

Mastery; A Never-Ending Journey

Quick fixes have become the new normal and society looks down upon those who burn the midnight oil and dive deep into the process of dedicated hard work. They are considered dumb in this fast-paced era of modernity. However, the ground reality is quite contrary to the widely held apocryphal. There is no shortcut to personal mastery. A master’s journey involves endless diligent practice and the continuous attainment of new levels of competence. During this arduous process, you have to be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau, to keep putting in the effort even when there is no progress in sight.

Challenge - Know Your Calling

But there exists a magic, the magic of “Why”! If you realize your ‘Why’, your purpose of life then you are blessed with a never-ending reservoir of energy. Your creativity soars, productivity escalates, and happiness increases manifolds. You finally discover that it’s not in the product but in the process, not in the destination but in the journey! And when you surrender yourself to the journey and the process, success not only becomes possible but also inevitable. You truly become undefeatable in spirits and achievements become a necessary by-product of the process as you commit yourself to a goalless journey, where no destination is final and you blaze the trail of with an enriched sense of accomplishment. To excel and make your mark in life, you must know your calling. You are blessed with divine talent, so listen to the song your heart so passionately yearns to sing! To realize your true potential and transcend the imaginary limits that have kept you from performing at your best, you must be willing to dance to the tunes of your heart’s song which plays an immense role in your personality development.

Your Uniqueness Is Your Speciality

The world is in a dire need of heroes, you only need to decide to act and express the divinity within you. What’s stopping you from giving your peak performance and breaking the shackles of mediocrity? Is it the underlying fear of rejection that’s stifling your inner voice? Has uncertainty clouded the most important question of your life: “What is your life’s purpose”? The earlier you answer it the better it is! Chalk out a strategic plan for your life now! There is no other ‘you’ so instead of imitating others, look deep within yourself and see what brings you the most satisfaction. You are not here to merely live your days, but to make an everlasting impression. Don’t count your days but make your days count. You are here on a mission, some central purpose, to which once you commit yourself unconditionally, shall unleash your remarkable powers and become a source of never dwindling satisfaction. Purpose of life – once focused on – breaks all chains that might have previously bound you. Your challenge is to discover that call. To live a life that makes history and releases any form of mediocrity in your life, knowing your true calling is of paramount importance.

Mastery And Purpose Of Life

The path of mastery can prove to be instrumental in helping you stay aligned with your life purpose. You can trek on the path if you commit yourself to a goalless journey. Mastery isn’t reserved only for the extraordinary and uniquely gifted or even for those who had a competitive advantage by having a head start. The path of mastery is open to anyone willing to trek and stay on it—regardless of age, sex, upbringing, or past experiences. If you are well aware of your purpose in life and you have a strong ‘why’, you can conquer almost any ‘how’. With a strong ‘why’, no obstacle is really an obstacle and no impediment can block your way. You never feel drained because, at heart, you know that with every single step, you are attaining inherent success which may not be visible but will compound over the period of time. This divine satisfaction reinvigorates the spirit, gives you enough energy in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and fuels your daily motivation. Just imagine, on your deathbed, you realize that you didn’t live the life you always wanted to. That will be a terrible feeling and you would have no means to start it all over again, Decide today and act now! Don’t let your heart be filled with regret over a life half lived. Your life will never be extraordinary if there's a massive space between who you truly are and the person you know you're meant to be. Mastery gives you a never-ending reservoir of grit that can help you become the undisputed champion of your realm. Your daily choices get aligned with your ultimate goal. You no longer look for inspiration, you have a burning desire and intrinsic motivation to materialize your purpose in life. What is the surest way to stay on the path of mastery? You practice diligently, but you practice for the sake of the practice itself. Rather than being discouraged while on the plateau, you learn to appreciate and savor every moment just as much as you do the visible growth spurts. Once you connect yourself with something bigger, you become patient with the process and the greatness of your mission gets you through even the most turbulent of times.

The Five Keys To Mastery

There are five keys that can help you stay on the path of mastery and become an expert in your chosen domain.

Key 1 – Instruction

Ideally, it is suggested that if you intend to embark on the journey of mastery, the best thing you can do is arrange for first-rate instruction. To see the teacher clearly, look at his students, they are his work of art. You are truly blessed to be living in this era of information. Even if you There is an abundance of knowledge online, you can learn almost anything through online courses, webinars, and tutorials.

Key 2 - Practice

The master of any game is generally a master of practice. For a master, the rewards gained along the way are fine, but they are not the main reason for the journey. Ultimately practice is the path to mastery. If you stay on it long enough, you’ll find it to be a vivid place, with its ups and downs, its challenges and comforts, its surprises and disappointments, and unconditional joys. Don’t quit in the face of difficulties, your life purpose is too precious to be sacrificed!

Key 3 – Surrender

The courage of a master is measured by his or her willingness to surrender to the demands of your discipline. It also means surrendering your hard-won proficiency from time to time to reach a higher or a different level of proficiency. For the master, surrender means there are no experts. There are only learners. This concept is beneficial in staying aligned with your true calling.

Key 4 – Intentionality

Intentionality fuel’s the master’s journey. Every master is a master of vision. Make deliberate choices every day and ask yourself an important question repeatedly, is it aligned with my purpose in life and what impact will it have on my life mission? Visualize yourself as a winner and ultimately you will become one. Robin Sharma remarked, “Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality”. Keep visualizing and keep growing!

Key 5- The Edge

Masters pay utmost attention to the fundamentals of their calling. They put their heart and soul into practice and are connoisseurs of the little incremental steps. These people, these masters, are precisely the ones who are likely to challenge previous limits, to take risks for the sake of higher performances. Your life’s purpose shall be so glorious that you shouldn’t be able to resist committing to it fully. Your unflinching resolve will inevitably bring you never-ending success as the path of mastery is never-ending. You will cherish even the temporary failures and bag splendid victories along the way. Winning will not be your objective but a vital by-product of this remarkable journey.

Final Words

In a nutshell, to stay ahead of the curve, don’t dabble on the path of mediocrity, get on the path of mastery and stay on it. Know your calling and commit yourself fully to it. You will realize that during this journey, you will learn a lot about yourself. You will realize the enormous potential within you. It will dawn upon you that if you have figured out your Why, no How can stop you. With a ton of respect and encouragement, let me offer you the evergreen words of US President Theodore Roosevelt, who has aptly summed up the journey of mastery.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt

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