10,000 HOURS TO MASTERY Master Prophet E. Bernard Jordan LESSON 10 THE LIFE OF MASTERY

“Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively.” (Peter Senge)

TIME FOR MASTERY What you are able to devote 10,000 hours to will change as your life changes. When you are 25, you may be able to invest the time to work out four hours every day and become incredibly fit, or to become a triathlete and train all the time. Life’s circumstances allow this. When you are young, you have fewer ties and more time to devote to mastery. The objects of your mastery can be more all- consuming: fitness, music, business.

TIME FOR MASTERY (CON’T) When you are 45, you may not be physically able to do the same things you did when you were 25. Nor will you be likely to have the same interests. Our priorities and passions evolve as we evolve. Ex. At 25, Steve Jobs was a computer geek obsessed with designing the perfect PC. At 55, he’s a CEO whose main focus now is building a legacy and growing his corporation. In middle age, you have attachments: a career, family, home.

TIME FOR MASTERY (CON’T) You cannot vanish to chase mastery or you will destroy all you have. Mastery then becomes smaller in scope: writing, education, art, martial arts, parenting. Is a parent a better parent after having a second child, because of the lessons learned with the first? Are firstborn children led astray because their parents are learning on the job?

TIME FOR MASTERY (CON’T) When you’re 65, you have the realities of age to face. You are not as agile or energetic. Your memory may not be as good. But you have time to practice and wisdom to leverage. This is the time when “masters class” athletes appear. There are leagues all over the country for runners, swimmers and more age 60 and over. At this age, you have the desire to prove you are not obsolete.

THE REALITIES OF AGE The realities of age and life-phase shape what we choose to master. What could you devote 10,000 hours, ten years, to master starting today? What could you begin to master starting at age 75? Is it even worth it to try? Does it matter? No. The journey to mastery is the transformative experience because is shapes your becoming. At 75, you may be more driven than at 25 to pursue mastery because it becomes an elixir of life.

THE REALITIES OF AGE (CON’T) In his book, Blue Zones, longevity researcher and adventurer Dan Buettner writes that, “a study of some of the world's most long-lived people, the Blue Zones project, discovered that having a sense of purpose or “having a reason to get out of bed” was a common trait in many of the world's centenarians.

PURPOSE Purpose, wrought by the desire for mastery, is a conduit to God and the key to a meaningful life. From this perspective, losing a job, can be a gateway to new purpose. 8.5 million jobs lost since December million new opportunities for mastery and self- reinvention? The death of the pursuit of excellence and purpose is complacency. Never are we more complacent than when we are comfortable in income, house, relationships and self.

REMAIN RELEVANT We cling to the illusion that things can go on unchanging, that if we stay as we are, things will stay as they are. This is folly. Children grow up, our bodies age, governments change, cities grow and populations shift. We must continue to become to remain relevant. Three reasons why job loss can become an incentive for greatness. #1 It frees the time to work on mastery. Yes, you need to earn a living. But with a job that demands less time, you have more time to pursue a passionate enterprise given to you by God.

REMAIN RELEVANT (CON’T) #2 It awakens you to the impermanence of things. Struck by the reality that you have little control when your fate is determined by others, you choose to seize control and determine the path of your life’s journey. #3 It sparks your creativity. The saying should be “unemployment is the mother of invention.” When you must find a way to earn a living, you will become creative and find invention and purpose in your ideas as you have never known before.

REMAIN RELEVANT (CON’T) A life of mastery requires a balance. On one hand, you must have the certainty that you are on the path to creating a more meaningful future. On the other, you must walk on the edge of being without support, of being told you are insane, of being outcast and without means. The greatest masters balance wisdom with simple, often-ascetic living to remain humble and purposeful.

10,000 HOURS TO MASTERY Master Prophet E. Bernard Jordan LESSON 10 THE LIFE OF MASTERY