Natalia Tokar | Native-Like Fluency

–Idea: pursuing the path to mastery requires a certain type of mindset and willingness to work. This is likely influenced by genetics just as our physical abilities are influenced by genetics. People often say something to the effect of, “I’ve seen so many talented athletes with God-given ability who just didn’twant to work hard. They faded away.” These statements are overlooking the fact that psychological abilities are largely fixed too. The odds that someone has the peak physical abilities (“God-given talent”) AND the peak mental abilities (willingness to work hard) are incredibly low. Thus, you would expect the people to perform the best who are very high on mental abilities and high enough on physical abilities. Regardless of your genetic potential, you have to work just as hard to fulfill it. Potential is just opportunity.

- The best teachers are the ones who have discovered how to involve each student actively in the process of learning.

- Practice is often used as a description of what we do. Instead, we can look at practice as something we have, something we are defined by.

- Rewards will always come to someone who commits to the practice, but the rewards are not the goal. The practice is the goal.

- Mastery reveals so much more to learn as you continue the journey. The destination is two miles farther away for every mile we travel.

- Masters love the practice and because they love it, they get better. And the better they get, the more they enjoy the practice. It’s an upward spiral.

- The master of any game is generally the master of practice as well.

- Good idea: having dinner with the family each night is a form of practice, one that you can commit to just as passionately as practicing your craft.
“How long will it take me to master Aikido?” a prospective student asks. “How long do you expect to live?” is the only respectable response.
Mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.

- The essence of boredom is to be found in the obsessive search for novelty. Satisfaction lies in mindful repetition, the discovery of endless richness as subtle variations on familiar themes.

- There are no experts. There are only learners.

- On how things live on in our minds even after they are physically gone: “More and more, the universe looks like a great thought rather than a great machine.” -Sir James Jeans

- Every master visualizes their success.

- Now we come, as come we must in anything of real consequence, to a seeming contradiction, a paradox.
Almost without exception, those who are masters are dedicated to the fundamentals of their calling. At the same time, they are the ones most likely to challenge their previous limits.

- Ancient Eastern wisdom: “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.”

- Backsliding is a universal experience. Everyone resists a significant change whether it is for worse or for better.

- Homeostasis: Our body, brain, and behavior have a built in tendency to stay within very narrow limits.
Homeostasis works to keep things as they are even if they aren’t very good.

- Resistance is proportionate to the size and speed of the change, not to whether the change is a favorable or unfavorable one.

- When you realize more of your potential in any endeavor (even a small one), it can change the rest of you in many ways.

- The alarm bells that ring when you try something new (fear, sweat, higher heart rate, discomfort) are signals of growth. It’s important not to ignore them for safety reasons, but you can also look at them as a sign of your improvement.

- Follow a practice. People embarking on any form of change will gain stability and comfort though practicing something daily. The practice provides a stable base during the instability of change.

- To learn is to change. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.

- A human being is the kind of machine that wears out from lack of use. There are limits, but for the most part we gain energy by using energy.

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