As children, we have a natural love for discovery and new challenges. Learning and ambition are playful adventures rather than dizzying experiences fraught with a sense of danger; whenever we fall, we get right back up again. But, as we mature, we begin to attach a sense of risk and fear to learning and performance and seek the comfort of old knowledge and methods. To learn and perform at increasingly higher levels, especially under stressful circumstances, we must reconnect to the experiences of our youth—to those times when our natural approach to discovery was light-hearted and being a beginner and a learner was joyful. At the core of success lies the journey from childhood back to childhood again. It is by taking this journey that we can discover how to maintain a harmonious balance between our pursuits and our own unique disposition.

In Josh’s Words:

Listen:

“I believe that one of the most critical factors in the transition to becoming a conscious high-performer is the degree to which your relationship to your pursuit stays in harmony with your unique disposition.” p. 80

Further reading: Chapter 4: Loving the Game, Chapter 8: Breaking Stallions

From THE ART OF LEARNING by Josh Waitzkin. Copyright © 2007 by Josh Waitzkin LLC.
Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.