If You Want To Master Something, Follow Your Instincts
“The things that you do greatest are the things you know not how you do them.”
Anyone can read a book about a subject and apply what they learn. But that isn’t going to give you the success of the true masters in the field.
You can watch a video of Tiger Woods’ golf swing, but you’re not going to step up to the tee and hit it like him. You can read Warren Buffett’s annual letters, but you’re not going to match Buffett’s investing track record. I can read every Judd Apatow script he’s ever written, but that doesn’t mean I will write a comedy like Judd.
And that’s because to master something, you can’t just learn it. You have to practice it with your natural instincts guiding the way.
True Intelligence Is Instinct.
Writing is instinctual. If you were to ask my wife and me how we write our movies, we wouldn’t have a good answer (I know because we’ve had this conversation). Writing, for us, comes way of natural instinct.
Sure, I’ve read almost every book out there on screenwriting. And she’s been an actor for more than a decade and has a great sense of character, dialogue, and structure. But these on their own don’t make a great screenplay. For us, the writing just comes.
And that’s the way it should work. As Kapil Gupta - a personal adviser to pro athletes, celebrities, and CEOs - including Naval Ravikant - says: “The things that you do greatest are the things you know not how you do them.”
And that’s because true mastery comes from instinct, not book learning. Here’s Gupta writing about the difference between Instinct and Knowledge in his book, A Master’s Secret Whispers:
“Although two doctors or pilots or engineers may have gone to the same school and read the same textbook, one may be far superior to the other in the execution of his craft… That, my student, is Intelligence… Intelligence is not procuring a degree or becoming certified or passing an exam… [It’s] something that is attained by way of Instinct rather than Knowledge… Intelligence comes from a place beyond the human mind. And it comes to a man by way of Availability moreso than by “study” or “hard work.”
This is similar to what Naval Ravikant calls specific knowledge - a combination of your natural curiosities, interests, instincts, and life experience.
For creative and business pursuits, there is no exact road map to follow. Most successful people got to where they are by making things up as they go along. By following their instincts and finding their specific knowledge.
The most important skills and attributes you have cannot be taught because they are innate to you. And you have to still the world’s noise to find them.
The World’s Noise Drowns Your Instincts.
To find your natural instincts, you have to quiet the world around you. And that’s difficult because the world is loud and persuasive.
Social proof and groupthink are real. You think and act like the people you spend the most time with. And it’s almost impossible to find your natural instincts if you’re surrounded by people day and night.
Here’s Gupta writing about this:
“Man lives in a world whose noise is so wide and deep that it requires either an extraordinary DNA or a cataclysmic chance occurrence for him to turn away from the noise and seek The Truth. It is almost impossible for him to deem that all that he has been told for his entire life and all that he hears on a daily basis is completely false and full of lies.”
Most of what the world exposes you to isn’t meant for you. To figure out what is, it’s helpful to spend a lot of time alone. When you are alone, it’s much harder for the world to twist you away from what you’re naturally curious about. As Naval Ravikant says:
“Curiosity is innate, but smothered via socialization and distractions. Spend enough time alone and it will return.”
When you spend enough time alone, you naturally wander towards the stuff you’re interested in. And that’s the pool in which you should play.
When You Try Too Hard To Succeed, It’s Easier To Fail.
The harder you cling to your need for success, the more difficult it is to win. This is called the paradox of success. With wanting to win comes the fear of losing. And that fear makes you a worse player. Here’s Gupta writing about this:
“When I played to win, I lost my Freedom. I was filled with angst. I was fully invested in hope. Hoping, at each turn, that fortune would turn away from my opponent, and toward me. While winning did produce a pleasant feeling within me, it was fleeting… The only one who can truly Play is the one who is indifferent to winning and losing. He who plays to win suffers the wrath of the mind.”
The great paradox of winning is that the person who doesn’t care about the outcome - only about improving and enjoying themselves along the way - is the most likely winner.
Success Comes To The One Who Doesn’t Wait For Its Arrival.
In interviews with professional athletes, you’ll often hear them say how fun it is to play the game. For them, it’s not work. The sweat and training and physical exertion is something they enjoy. They reached the highest level not only because they had a desperate need to do so, but because they love the journey itself.
Here’s Gupta from A Master’s Secret Whispers:
“Only the fool trains in order to win. The wise man trains in order to forge his Spirit… For his craft is his life. And its refinement is his Journey. A Journey toward perfecting himself… If one has given the whole of himself to becoming a Master, he will do what is necessary to become it. And it will be a joy for him. It will be an intense journey. And peaceful the entire way. Hard work and practice are for those who try to become that which they secretly believe that it is difficult for them to become.
This is why it’s so important to figure out what you are meant to do. Whatever it is should be a joy for you. That’s the only way you’ll reach a level of mastery in your domain.
We all know when someone is faking enthusiasm for something. We can smell it immediately when compared to the person who genuinely loves it. That’s what we all need to find.
Good luck and keep going.
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SOURCES
Gupta MD, Kapil. A Master's Secret Whispers: For those who abhor the noise and seek The Truth about life and living. Kindle Edition.