Publishing micromastery has been different...

I've published 12 books in the last twenty years but none have rocketed out of the shops quite like Micromastery. Partly it was getting good publicity, partly great cover design, great recommendations and a good basic idea.

But this is one thing that has had a big impact and is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT- how one man spent £11.63 and turned a few views into thousands in an attempt to show me how much publicising a book has moved on in the last year or so. You'll be amazed- I still am.

http://www.flintoff.org/rob-gets-away-with-it

courage

When prolific self-help author Steve Pavlina was asked what characteristic would he say was most invaluable to a growth mindset he answered 'courage'.

Here's what I have gleaned on the subject over the years.

First forget that stupid Hemingway quote 'Grace under pressure'- what nonsense except in movies. Some of the most courageous people I know are annoying ditherers.

Most people are naturally courageous if they find themselves in a courageous group.

Drink emboldens most people.

The main way to be courageous is to psyche yourself up. I have found with a day's warning I can psyche myself up to do things I'd bolt from if asked to do it cold.

Instant courage only comes from practising an instant response.

There are tricks to employ once you know 'lacking courage' is a temporary phase. Smoking a cigarette, downing a drink or cup of coffee- all these can be simple props to get you ready to act bravely.

Courage to go it alone is hardest.

Courage to believe in your own ideas without asking for others opinions is hardest.

"Ah, fuck it,' can be a mantra that's gets you moving.

'What have I got to lose?' can be another. Finding courage stimulating mantras is a great idea.

Courage is very affected by food and warmth and lack of. But knowing this helps.

Every man and woman has a breaking point. The skill is to know how to avoid reaching yours.

Be unafraid of death.

johnny factotum

'Jack of all trades and master of none but oftentimes better than a master of one' is one of two original forms of the modern stripped down 'jack of all trades master of none'.

Another is 'Better to be a jack of all trades than a master of none'.

Both have slightly different and far more upbeat meanings than the current one.

But people have always disparaged those with wings...

If 16th century commentators wanted to imply that a person was stretching their talents too thinly they resorted to the disparaging Latin term Johannes factotum('Johnny do-it-all'). In 1592, the English writer and member of the literary establishment Robert Greene wrote a pamphlet titled Groats-worth of Witte. In that he ventured the opinion that a new writer on the scene was:

An upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that supposes he is as well able to bumbast out a blanke verse as the best of you. Beeing an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey.

Sadly for Greene's ongoing reputation the 'Upstart crow' was William Shakespeare.

Where I got the idea from

Micromastery is the practical aspect of polymathy. When you believe that it is normal to be interested in many things you naturally seek an efficient way to learn. I have found the efficient way to learn very much helped through an interest and immersion in the current projection of Sufi thought in the West. And the Sufi tradition has always drawn attention to the need and naturalness of being polymathic. Sayings can degenerate over time: the correct phrase is NOT 'Jack of all trades and master of none' but, "BETTER to be a jack of all trades THAN a master of none." We've all met the master of none- he is the person pontificating that there's no point in doing something because conditions/tools/time aren't perfect. He is the person hiding his laziness behind the concept of specialisation and assumed mastery. Actually specialists are very limited beings unless they refresh themselves at the well of more various interests and pursuits. Hence the need for a polymathic approach even if you work in a narrow field. And if the field is so narrow that it cannot ever develop then that sounds a little too narrow to me.

But the idea for polymathy, though attractive to me since childhood really came from immersion in modern work about Sufism. Such a book has just been republished: Sufi Thought and Action by Idries Shah (though it includes other authors too). The publisher is ISF publishing.

a few interesting things

1. Siberian folk tap the top of an anthill a few times to anger the ants. They then hold their hands above the hill, an inch away, to get it squirted with formic acid. This is a highly effective anti-insect treatment. Rubbed on the hands and face no horseflies or mosquitoes will subsequently attack.

2. A old beech tree, long cut down, a stump with no leaves remains alive centuries later. It is kept alive by the other beeches pumping sugars and other nutrients to it through their overlapping root system.

3. The animal keepers in scientific labs usually have a far higher regard for the intelligence of their cares than the scientists who are meant to be the experts. The sensible, intuitive, spot-on kind of observation made by someone who really knows is more likely to be made by a nursing orderly than a nurse, more likely to be made by a nurse than a doctor, more likely to be made by a trainee doctor than old behemoth in charge. Observation with caring-for; without ego involvement, and theory, leads to real knowledge.

art and adventure

Adventure is the form art takes when it cannot find expression. Hence the many adventurer artist types you find, especially in the modern era. I am thinking today about the connections between art and adventure, bearing in mind that these words have a rather loose and probably personal definition for many.

an odd message from the underground

While walking out of the subway I found a tattered piece of paper fluttering in the sudden breeze of a passing train. I picked it up as I have sometimes found amusement reading lost pieces of homework and letters from creditors etc. This piece of paper was covered in a neat handwriting which I have transcribed below.

“I have grown to hate and loathe the computer on which I work and on which I depend for music, entertainment, connection to my friends. When I get a request ‘to skype’ I immediately try and think of excuses- yet when this first appeared it was like a wonder to me: free phone calls anywhere in the world! The same with movie downloads and blog sites laden with good articles. Now all that just makes me sick. I don’t ‘surf’ the net anymore – I use it for the more insidious role of ANSWERING EVERY QUESTION. It is like a square black prosthetic brain and I hate opening it. The day has both begun and ended at that moment. On the rare occasions I go a few days (maybe two at most) without ‘logging on’ I feel a pathetic gratitude to the machine for being such a storehouse of goodies. But what are these good things – just dumb facebook posts, recycled news, bargains on ebay. I think I could cut down to simply buying a few things on the internet. I think I could cut down to doing that on a machine in a library or something. I am aiming for the day when I can boast of no email and no twitter. When I am free. Why? Because I hate the way I have to type to get anything. I want to speak or use a pencil or pen. I don’t want to be MODERN if that means suckling all day on the teat of the internet. But mainly I anticipate the complete corporate takeover of the net in the next few years so that things like blogging (except mediated by facebook or twitter) will cease to be of interest to anyone. Raising money? Maybe. Selling things? Maybe. But part of me would prefer to drive round the country doing pop-up sales, relying on other people to let the world know what I am doing. I would become a digital parasite rather than a digital nomad, slipping between the interstices of other people’s online presence. It is not that I can’t see the utility of the internet – I can. I just think it exacts too high a human price to fully participate in its use. I think it foments madness…I think it is the swirling brain of some satanic being, mankind’s worst creation…"

I wonder if dropping pages in the subway is this author's new method of publication....perhaps it is already working...