Personal Mastery and the Journey of Growth

I’m reading The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter Senge right now, and I have to admit I’m disappointed I didn’t read this book decades ago!

Then again, if I follow what the book says about personal mastery, it’s just a part of my journey of growth.

“People with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning mode. They never “arrive.” Sometimes, language, such as the term “personal mastery,” creates a misleading sense of definiteness, of black and white. But personal mastery is not something you possess. It is a process. It is a lifelong discipline. People with a high level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence, and their growth areas. And they are deeply self-confident. Paradoxical? Only for those who do not see that “the journey is the reward.” Peter Senge

Can you regret not knowing some key insight or not being able to perform some skill earlier in life?

Sure.

But if you are truly committed to personal mastery, you are, by nature, continuously learning and growing, aware that you can never be all-knowing or all-doing, but instead are a work in progress. This perspective is also supported by great Stoic thinkers such as Seneca: “As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”

These reminders allowed me to focus less on the regret of not picking up this book sooner and helped Hannah see a different perspective when she pondered what if she had found her golf spark even earlier in life.

First, I reminded her that she started golfing very young compared to the vast majority of people, and then I highlighted the progress and growth she has experienced through her hard work and the guidance she has received from her coaches and support from family and friends.

Regret looks backward. Personal mastery looks forward.

What's something you wish you had learned or started earlier in life, but now realize that more important question is what you do with it from here?

Learn in the flow of life

~Jason