Mastery

This very simple key lesson which we will be speaking about today, is one of my favorites. It sounds like a no brainer, it sounds simple and even too simple, idiotic almost - but it is a genius approach to business and life.  We should break Monish's observation into three part:  The first part is about risk. In everything we do in life, in every decision we take about an unknown future, there’s an inherent risk we cannot avoid.  The second and the third parts are how to deal with that risk. First, to reduce that risk, we need to make a few Bets, big Bets, and make these bets infrequently Second, we will reduce risk if we learn how to play games where the odds are overwhelmingly in our favor I try to take Monish’s lesson and implement it in every part of my life. I think it applies to relationships, to business, to the way I select the books or podcasts I read and listen to even. How I invest my time. Take this knowledge and use it, transform it into wisdom by practice and repetition. 

I am actually very excited about today's episode because today’s key lesson is not a piece of advice, but a warning.  In our work, in our path, in our sacrifice to achieve mastery, we must not be those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. The souls who avoided their battles. Instead, we want to be the man, and woman who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who is making mistakes, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. If you are not failing, you are not even trying!  Be the man in the arena, or be the man who bears the wounds of all the battles he avoided.  

I am actually very excited about today’s lesson, because this is my kryptonite. It is the single most difficult thing for me to do. No one, outside maybe inhuman creatures like Elon Musk, can retain high levels of intensity for a long period of time. And when you are no longer as excited about that thing you started, when you captured the first hill of the battle you’re in, or when things suddenly become harder than you originally expected - then, all of a sudden, you’re bored, you can’t find motivation, you are anxiously looking for something to push you forward. You are losing pace. And for us to find success, and to reach mastery - we must learn how to build sustainable, long term commitment. Because, true, in the short term, you are as good as your intensity. In the long term, you are only as good as your consistency.

Today we break down Charlie Munger's key lesson for success, and it is about the power of simplicity. If we take a simple idea, and we take it seriously, and consistently, I'll add - we will sure to find success! Listen how successful people like Steve Jobs, or Henry Ford, the Boston Consulting Group, simplified to create the most compelling, easy to use, memorable, and successful products in the world.

Excellence is the capacity to take pain. This line has been called the best maxim in the history of entrepreneurship. Only two weeks ago, Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia shared with Stanford grads - “One of my great advantages is that I have very low expectations. Most of the Stanford graduates have very high expectations. And you deserve to have high expectations because you came from a great school. People with high expectations have very low resilience”. And unfortunately, Jensen says, resilience matters in success. I don’t know how to teach it to you, except that I hope suffering happens to you”. What does he wish us to experience? Suffering. Why? Because if we can withstand suffering, it means we are resilient, and resilient matters a lot, in business and in finding success! If we learn to deal with pain, and suffering, we will find success. Because, Excellence is the capacity to take pain. 

Today we discussed what history's most successful people knew about the power of self belief, the fact that it governs success, precedes ability, and how they used it. Quoting David Senra, "belief comes before ability".