Dabblers, Obsessives, Hackers and Masters

 

I am a hacker

   There is a library around the corner from our house and occasionally I pay it a visit. For years they’ve been advertising a chess club that meets on Wednesday afternoon at 4pm, but nobody goes. I think it was one of the librarian’s ideas several years ago and they never took down the signs or took it off the website. I showed up for the first meeting and there was only one pre-teen girl there and nobody from the library staff.

     They only have two or three chess books, but I go to browse and occasionally check out a biography or history book. One book that got browsed the other day was not really something I would be interested in actually reading, but it did catch my attention. It was Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard.
     The book says the author draws on Zen philosophy and his expertise in the martial art of aikido to show how the process of mastery can help us attain a higher level of excellence and a deeper sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in our daily lives. 
     I am definitely not interested in Zen and am somewhat confused. When I looked it up one source said it’s not a philosophy or a religion. Instead Zen tries to free the mind from the slavery of words and the constriction of logic. Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom. Zen is meditation. Not something that interests me in the least. 
     But what was interesting was the author discussed something all chess players experience...hitting a plateau where we get stuck and fail to make any further progress. 
     Leonard believes we are conditioned to experience success without experiencing a lot of effort, delays and setbacks and when that doesn’t happen the excitement wears off and with it the interest. Then we look for a quick-fix.
     Leonard also discussed a problem that the nation faces. Namely, for a long time now our prosperity is built on a huge deficit and trillions of dollars worth of debt, both as a nation and as individuals. Failure to deal with the deficit goes along with easy credit and the continuing encouragement of individual consumption at the expense of saving and longer term goals. He suggests that our time might be running out. But that’s another subject. 
     In the book Leonard described the attitudes we have towards attempting to master any new skill or challenge and he seems to have hit the nail on the head when it comes to chess players. 

The Dabbler 
They approach a new sport, hobby, job opportunity or relationship with enthusiasm, but lose interest once initial progress slows or a setback is encountered. They start a lot of new things, but once they hit a wall or plateau they move on.  
The Obsessive 
They are strongly goal-oriented and results-focused and pursues mastery with intensity and dogged persistence, making rapid initial progress. When setbacks are encountered, they redouble their effort and push forward without mercy. But because this cannot be sustained, ultimately they burnout. 
The Hacker 
They have a laid back approach to learning new things and are content to stay on the plateau indefinitely as they remain satisfied in their comfort zone. They avoid getting frustrated and dabble at improvement, but are unwilling to invest in any real effort and hard work. As a result they never progress. 

     Leonard believed mastery is not about reaching perfection, but comes from maintaining a particular mindset as you move along the path of improvement in building your skills or overcoming challenges in any endeavor. 
     Learning any new skill involves brief spurts of progress, each of which is followed by a slight decline to a plateau somewhat higher than before. You have to practice diligently, striving to hone your skills and to attain new levels of competence. But while doing so you also have to be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau and keep practicing even when you seem to be getting nowhere. This can be frustrating, but if you are serious, you have to accept plateaus and learn to love training or practice for its own sake. 
     Leonard described the keys to mastery: Instruction, Practice, Surrender and Intentionality. By surrendering he meant you have to accept plateaus and set backs and intentionality is a complicated philosophy in itself, but here I would simply describe it as a sense of purpose. 
     Me? I am a Hacker. 

Chess Progress article on Chessbase
Ten reasons why adults fail to improve at chess article at The Chess World. This is actually an ad for a chess course, but the reasons are valid.
Five way adults learn differently than children. Article from Learnkit.
How Adults Learn is an article from Child and Youth Care.