Create Your Unique Path to Mastery
Why We Must Transform Others' Methods to Succeed
Why are there thousands of books and courses, each claiming to teach the best way to achieve some particular outcome? Logically, either all of those claims, or all but one, are false. Yet advertisements barrage us claiming to offer the one universal best way, and you can only access it if you act within the next [imagine a countdown clock here] minutes for the heavily discounted price of [imagine an exorbitant figure here]. We need only this one perfect book or course.
Let’s be wildly generous and assume the author or teacher actually knows their stuff. Why do no books or courses deliver on this promise equally to all readers or students?
Because
for the most part, knowledge and skill are not transactional commodities; they are unique, living integrations of a complex, dynamic person and some part of a complex, dynamic universe.
each map of a territory works well for only the person who creates it.
being able to do something effectively has close to zero correlation with being able to transfer one’s ability to someone else (creating and delivering instruction is its own, separate area of expertise).
We each need to imprint our tools, techniques, and processes with our own perceptions, experiences, and ways of being.
The upshot? We need the meta-skill of taking inspiration from others’ insights and approaches, but blending and adapting them to mesh with our unique needs, ways, and goals.
Most people cannot use others’ frameworks, tools, or practices effectively out-of-the-box. Instead, they must wrestle with their work and craft their own representations, processes, methods, techniques, and even tools before they can feel comfortable and be productive. Borrow, remix, amend, extend, and repeat until you have a system that works for you.
Interesting, helpful, makes me think.