Josh is the subject of the book and film "Searching for Bobby Fischer." I re-read this at least once a year on Audible, where Josh narrates. In The Art of Learning, he explores his search for peak performance in chess and competitive Tai Chi. He breaks down his process in detail and shows how he applies each of the principles in his own pursuits. Where Tim Ferriss excels in learning and teaching the first 80% of any skill, Josh is an expert in the last 1%. He knows what it takes to go from top 5 to number 1 in any field.
Key Takeaways
Memorable Quotes
Rating: 8/10
The book always inspires and makes me want to go out and work hard. That said, I come away wishing Josh organized it another way. This may be a result of me listening on Audible, but I don't have a coherent view of the principles he outlines. Josh could write a condensed version without so much story telling. The power and clarity of the principles might come through better in that format.
Key Takeaways
- You must embrace discomfort, unknown, and challenge if you want to reach your peak.
- You must practice and play in a fashion that is true to yourself, otherwise you will feel stuck as a performer.
- Reaching peak performance is equal parts mental work and physical work.
Memorable Quotes
- Everyone at a high level has a huge amount of chess understanding, and much of what separates the great from the very good is deep presence, relaxation of the conscious mind, which allows the unconscious to flow unhindered.
- At the highest levels of any kind of competitive discipline, everyone is great. At this point the decisive factor is rarely who knows more, but who dictates the tone of the battle. For this reason, almost without exception, champions are specialists whose styles emerge from profound awareness of their unique strengths, and who are exceedingly skilled at guiding the battle in that direction.
- One of the most critical strengths of a superior competitor in any discipline—whether we are speaking about sports, business negotiations, or even presidential debates—is the ability to dictate the tone of the battle.
- A key component of high-level learning is cultivating a resilient awareness that is the older, conscious embodiment of a child’s playful obliviousness.
- The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety.
- The fact of the matter is that there will be nothing learned from any challenge in which we don’t try our hardest. Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities.
- To walk a thorny road, we may cover its every inch with leather or we can make sandals.
Rating: 8/10
The book always inspires and makes me want to go out and work hard. That said, I come away wishing Josh organized it another way. This may be a result of me listening on Audible, but I don't have a coherent view of the principles he outlines. Josh could write a condensed version without so much story telling. The power and clarity of the principles might come through better in that format.
