cognoscente: a person with special knowledge.

What does it take to become a cognoscente, an expert, a true master?

There are numerous books written about this topic, but still it normally boils down to a few central skills. I have specifically identified four of them:

• Determination
• Perseverance
• Focus
• Purpose

Determination

Determination is – in essence – a mind-set that includes the belief that the goal you want to achieve can actually be reached. With determination you bring yourself in vibrational match with the person you will be when you have reached that goal finally. Determination is like the dynamite that blasts away the possible walls and hindrances between you and your goal.

Perseverance

If you never give up and never give in, you will eventually reach your goal. Except for death, nothing can stop you from succeeding if you try hard enough.

Remember this quote by Randy Pausch well:

The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.

Focus

If you are centered on your goal, you can channel all your powers and abilities towards it. Otherwise, you will be occupied with things that are of little importance to the central (higher) goal.

Purpose

Without a sense of purpose, a goal is lifeless and has no soul. Find a purpose in becoming the master you want to become. Think of the meaning you can have to the world by being this person. Find a reason greater than your wish to be this person and you will be dragged by this strong purpose.

Why these four?

These four skills work together synergistic and block each other if a lack of any of them occurs.

• A lack of determination will lead to self-doubt and therefore the inability to achieve the goal
• A lack of perseverance will let your efforts come to a halt upon every hindrance
• A lack of focus will see your powers scattered by the multitude of your thoughts and lesser wishes
• A lack of purpose will leave you with the nagging question of why you are doing this and thereby dropping the goal

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In addition to the virtues of a true master, it is important to know the way you have to go in order to become the person you want to be – regardless of what it may be. The way is always the same in its structure – the only thing that differs is how the path unfolds for you. Becoming a persuasive speaker follows the same path as becoming a nurturing mother – but both perspectives unfold a different scenario.

In a step-by-step outline, becoming a master works like this:

• Define your area of expertise
• Gather experience
• Learn from your experiences
• Gather more experience
• …

Attaining mastery is much like a role-playing game. You are the avatar in your game and the real world is your game environment. You start off with little experience and at a low level. By gathering experience you level up and have skill points to distribute (the learning and reflection of experience). With new skills, you are able to gather new experiences and level up again. These are the first few iterations of a never-ending cycle of experiencing and understanding matters in a ever deeper sense.

The Deming Wheel pictures this cycle of continuous improvement very well: PLAN – DO – CHECK – ACT

Plan

Lay out what you are about to do and organize it. Good goals should obey the SMART principle:

• S: Specific – Always be concrete about what to achieve
• M: Measurable – Without measure you cannot evaluate goal achievement
• A: Attractive – Attraction makes you want to achieve the goal
• R: Realistic – Unrealistic goals are deemed to frustrate you
• T: Time – Set deadlines to avoid dragging goals out

Do

This is the most important part. Shut off the analytic mind and just do what you planned on doing. This is where you gather the experience that makes your character level up!

It is of critical importance that you really do what you planned on doing. Without the experience you will gather, your path to mastery stops at this very point!

Check

Check your achievements against your plans. Were you successful in achieving your goals? If so, why were you successful. If not, what went wrong? Document it.

Act

Implement the experiences you have made into the changes for future goals. Learn from what you have experienced and become better the next iteration! Start again with planning it.

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Do you know, what the difference between knowledge and wisdom is? Wisdom is doing it!

These are the words of Socrates, the second main character in the inspiring movie “Peaceful Warrior”. They truly have struck me. If you want to become a master or even anything, there is no way around doing things. Most people like to talk and read about things as well as watching other people’s efforts and commenting them – it is an easy thing to do. But really getting out there and doing what you love to do really lets you stand out of the crowd.

From one of the many people that talk all day long you will gradually become a person that actually walks its way towards success – inevitably

The transition is a hard one and I am working on it myself. This posting should be an indicator that I will – from now on – stop writing so much about things I haven’t achieved myself personally and get out there actually living my life. I will soon report back with thoughts that echo the true voice of human experience.

Follow me on my way to become someone special – like you were intended to be

In love for life
Simon

Fitness and strength coach legend Dan John is someone you should listen to if you are serious about any endeavor in this field. Few people have more knowledge and (more importantly) wisdom about the topic of strength training. A video I have repeatedly stumbled upon is an extract from his DVD, “A Philosohpy of Strength Training” – his take on the tremendously important topic of goal setting.

If you have a goal in life, to live ’til you die, that is a very solid goal.

Dan starts out with a beautiful statement. I want to extend his statement to: “If you have a goal in life, to live ’til you die, only that is a very solid goal.” You want to verbalize this main goal of yours in the first place. This is the most important planning action of your whole life and you will want to invest some serious effort to accomplish it. Remember that if you try to save your time here, you may end up pursuing a then meaningless goal for decades of your life. Do not be foolish – wise men know that their life has a purpose and their journey can only begin after they have discovered it.

Other goals are sub-goals of this one goal (you may call it your ‘life purpose’) and have to be viewed in its perspective. If any sub-goal is not actively contributing to your main goal, you have to dismiss it, or you will stray from your true purpose. Always stay in alignment with it, as hard as it may seem at the moment. Only if you are 100% devoted, the true beauty of your purpose can effortlessly unfold. It does not necessarily take hard work to accomplish staying true to your purpose – what it takes is devotion and faith.

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Dan John also quotes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Don Quixote

It’s the road, not the inn.

This is well-known in eastern philosophy. The first association I have with this sentence is a scene in the movie “Peaceful Warrior”, where Dan Millman comes to understand “The journey. The journey is what brings us happiness. Not the destination.”

A goal is a useless one if you are not able to enjoy the journey there. If you have to starve yourself in order to achieve a body composition goal, you will ditch your success in an instant because of the lack of enjoyment you felt on the way there. This is, why most dieters are yo-yoing – bodybuilders just like normal people. If you enjoy the change of diet and grow to like the foods that do your body (composition) good, you will achieve your goal as well. Probably it will take longer, probably not. Fact is that the maintenance of the goal is easy because the steps you took to get there were not forced and did not diminish your well-being.

It’s the road, not the inn. If you are about to pick a goal, make sure that the journey is interesting, inspiring and fills you so up with joy and excitement that you are on the verge of exploding. This truly is living life to its fullest.

I love you Dan John explains that it was ‘not that big of a deal’ standing up there on the podium after winning the contest Nevertheless, all his efforts did not went to waste. The preparation for the contest was the real benefit he gained. And I feel the same. Every time I train it is the great feeling I have by bringing my body to its limits that makes training so genuinely enjoyable and motivating. In whatever way you train, it should arouse a similar feeling in you. If not, your motivation and progression will cease with time. I have experienced this a dozen times – always be ready to reflect the validity of your goals when motivation starts to cease. Find out if this really is for you. The time investment in this clarity is worthwhile.

The question “WHY?” is very powerful. Always ask yourself, why you are doing this. Always ask deeper, why you are doing this. Go deep enough to find out your core motivation for a certain goal. At the time you have found out, you will already know if this goal is of true value or just an outlet for a misled belief (like the urge to impress others).

Other powerful questions to assess the validity of a goal are

• Would you want to achieve this, if it was the last thing you could achieve before dying?
• Would you want to achieve this, if there was no one out there appreciating it but you?
• Would you want to achieve this, even if costed you all your money?

The first question calls upon the urgency of the goal, the second reflects on who you are doing it for and the third asks how great your motivation is (derived from the question: “What do you love so much that you would even pay to be able to do it?”).

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One thing I have never before heard of in the context of goal setting are the words elegance and mastery that Dan John uses.

Two things I think we miss. The first one is elegance, and the other one is mastery.

Indeed, we miss them most often. I believe this is of major importance. There are two misconceptions that are instantly cured by truly devoting oneself to the principles of elegance and mastery:

• The urge to understand and excel at everything
• The ravenous hunger for new heights in achievement

What elegance and mastery teach us is that it is not of true importance how much you achieve, but rather the way (or style) it is achieved or performed with. Furthermore, these principles teach us that there is no need to know everything when in fact it is impossible to do so anyhow.

Dan John explained it in a wonderful way: Pick out one or two feats of either technique or strength and work on truly mastering them. Limit the range of skills but deepen the expertise. Most people are surprised how many techniques and feats of strength they are able to achieve without training them after they have truly mastered a basic skill.

Mastery is elegance. You cannot call yourself a master unless you are able to perform a skill in such a wonderful style that it unequivocally is considered elegant (and thereby beautiful).

Remember that mastery is never finished. I have high respect for my Aikido teacher’s teacher – the Aikikai chairman Georg Meindl. He repeatedly explains to us how the path of mastery and understanding never is finished. The deeper you delve into a topic, the more complex the facets become. True mastery is a lifetime achievement. Nothing more and nothing less.

Become a master and do not be satisfied with anything less.

In love for life
Simon

alacrity: a cheerful readiness, willingness, or promptness.

Derived from the Latin word for lively, alacrity is something worth attaining throughout the course of your life. It is the attitude you should have towards your life’s mission, your purpose, your reason to live from day to day.

You should awaken every day with the sparkling motivation to create something great in your life – that surpasses your own imagination. In Japan, the word KAIZEN is colloquially used. It simply means to continually improve yourself – from day to day become a better you. This is synonymous to permanent personal growth – this is why you are here on this planet, after all.

If you haven’t already entered a state wherein you awaken every day with the urge to create the reality of your liking, you have to take certain steps in this direction. They are the following

• Learn how to motivate yourself
• Find out your deepest core values
• Translate your core values into a life mission
• Translate your mission into specific goals
• Use the power of your motivation to get going this instant – and never stop until you perish

Motivation

Motivation is optional. You will probably never need motivation due to your burning urge to fulfill your life mission anyhow, but for every moment of doubt that overshadows your determination to live your mission, knowing ways to motivate yourself to get going anyway is an enormously empowering insurance. This way, you will always be able to take action towards your the fulfillment of your life mission.

Core Values

Your core values are the values that mean most to you. You have three options to find out, what your core values are

• Analyze situations that emotionally hurt you. These situations reveal your core values, as they have become hurt therein.
• Imagine situations that truly empower you. These situations also reveal your core values, as they have been empowered therein.
• Be silent and introspect. Search for a solitary place and undergo meditation. Tap your core and find our the values that matter most to you

When you have found out all your core values, think about why they are so important to you. This will further reveal the values that stand behind these core values – these are the truly important ones. Write them down.

Your Mission

For every set and combination of core values, there are missions that represent these values in a perfect way. If your core values are excellence, communion, sharing and compassion, you might opt for becoming professor or teacher or you become a therapist representing the same values. Possibilities are endless – your creativity is the limit.

Thoroughly assess the possible missions and for every mission, go into a meditative state and imagine living this mission already. Evaluate the feelings you go through during this imagination and let it be the emphasis for your judgment which mission will be the right one for you.

Remember: Even if your mission is a huge commitment, you are not entitled to follow it for a lifetime. Humans are entities that undergo change, sometimes radically. Our missions have to adapt to these changes. So if you – at any time – feel out of sync with what you do, re-assess your core values and your mission statement thereafter.

Milestones

For every mission, there are milestones you have to achieve what you have dreamed of. Lay out a rough milestone landscape and break down every piece of the way into smaller milestones. The bigger goals have sub-goals and every sub-goal has specific action steps.

While planning out your goals, never lose touch to the greater context. Always keep in mind, why you are doing this and why this is of true importance for you. Cut out everything that is useless in context of your mission.

Get Going

The main reason, why most people fail is that they never got going. It is problematic to perpetuate the planning phase of a mission ad infinitum – rather than planning it out to perfection (which is impossible, with you undergoing constant change), start following your missions and make adjustments on the planning on the fly. Take your time to assess your plans every week but never get hung up planning – proceed working. Without working on your goals, you will never be able to figure out possible problems anyhow.

As mentioned, make good use of your motivational skills to push you further. A good quote to get you through difficult times was done by Calvin Coolidge – it is easily the single best thing I have ever read on the topic of success

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Press on and you cannot ever fail. Live alacrity. Be a shining role model for your environment and the whole planet.

You can do it. I believe in you

In love for life
Simon

efficacious: producing, or capable of producing, a desired effect.

Whenever you pursuit a goal in your life, you have to take steps towards your goal – into the right direction. To take this steps, you will need specific tools that enable you to do so. Not always you are able to walk the way through green grass under bright sunshine – those are the low-level goals, the low-hanging fruits, goals that you will achieve anyhow and that show few opportunities to grow.

To chase high-level goals that require a tremendous amount of growth, the question of how you will make your way is of vital importance. Will you go barefooted or ride the bike? Will you have to cross a river using a boat? How to cross the rapids without getting crushed into the rocks that endanger your life amid the river’s width? While these are metaphors, they easily translate into real-life situations where you have to decide well how you are going to proceed.

Doing a brainstorm on the possible options is highly recommended but this is the easy part – finding out what is possible. The hard part is to evaluate, which way is the one best suited to the situation. To judge the options, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is this way congruent with what I truly am?
• What will be the long-term ramifications of taking this option?
• How much will it cost me financially, physically and mentally to do so?
• Imagine being the best you can be, the perfect you: Would you still opt for this solution?

These questions empower you to get into touch with your inner self. They guide you to act authentic and train your vision – thinking about how your choices impact your life and the life of others is of tremendous power when pondering about possible solutions. Sure, murder can clean the way sometimes and it looks like a decent solution from a very short-term perspective but from a long-term perspective, the ramifications of this deed are far too grave to actually consider choosing it

Thinking about what you have to invest includes some risk-management as well. The more you put on the line, the more you can win – and the more you can lose. Still, sometimes a safer bet is still far more rewarding than a risky choice. It all depends on the situation and you have to judge it anew from case to case. Not only the finances are of importance. What good is a tool, if it empowers you financially but devours your physical energy and mental well-being? There are too many financially successful businessmen out there that suffer from burn-out syndrome – do yourself a favor and do not join them.

Finally, the imagination of your perfect self is a vision that enables you to look at problem and solution from an elevated perspective. It strengthens your internal congruence because with every choice congruent with the one of your perfect self you do one step further becoming this person. A promising outlook

Start tomorrow to judge your tools using these questions. Proceed to live a life in congruence with who you really are and want to be.

In love for life
Simon