Micromastery: Learn Small, Learn Fast, and Unlock Your Potential to Achieve Anything

by Robert Twigger

Overview

Want to be a lifelong learner? Think small.

Forget spending 10,000 hours in the pursuit of perfecting just one thing. The true path to success and achievement lies in the pursuit of perfecting lots and lots of small things—for a big payoff.

Combining positive psychology, neuroscience, self-help and more, this delightfully illuminating book encourages us to circumvent all the reasons we "can't" learn and grow (we're too busy, it's too complicated, we're not experts, we didn't start when we were young) — by tackling small, satisfying skills.

Wish you were a seasoned chef? Learn to make a perfect omelette. Dream of being a racecar driver? Perfect a handbrake turn. Wish you could draw? Make Zen circles your first challenge. These small, doable tasks offer a big payoff — and motivate us to keep learning and growing, with payoffs that include a boost in optimism, confidence, memory, cognitive skills, and more.

Filled with surprising insights and even a compendium of micromastery skills to try yourself, this engaging and inspiring guide reminds us of the simple joy of learning — and opens the door to limitless, lifelong achievement, one small step at a time.

Micromasteries presented in the book (with illustrations) include: Learn How to Climb a Rope, Surf Standing Up, Talk for Fifteen Minutes about Any Subject, Bake Artisan Bread, Juggle Four Balls, Learn to Read Japanese in Three Hours, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143132325
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/06/2018
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Robert Twigger is an author, adventure traveler and apprentice micromaster. He lectures on risk management, polymathics and leadership, and lives in London.

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What is Micromastery?
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Micromastery"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Robert Twigger.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Micromastery 1

What is Micromastery? 3

Inside a Micromastery 16

Dynamic Learning 27

Locate Hidden Micromasteries (They Are Everywhere) 32

Help Yourself 40

Multiple Micromastery and Synergy 65

Polymathic Paradise 76

Creativity Explosion 83

Micromastery Central 91

1 Do a Line Sketch That Looks Creditable 93

2 Do an Eskimo Roll 96

3 Find the Depth of a Well or a Deep Hole 101

4 Chop Through a Log (or Even a Tree) 104

5 Learn How to Climb a Rope 107

6 Surf Standing Up 111

7 Talk for Fifteen Minutes about Any Subject 115

8 Lay a Brick Wall 118

9 Write Dialogue 122

10 Make a Clay Skull 125

11 Bake Excellent Artisan Bread 128

12 Make a Sword Hum Through the Air 132

13 Make String from Nettles 135

14 Sing Solo, Even If You Are Tone Deaf 138

15 Master the Bench Press 141

16 Learn "La Marseillaise" 144

17 Do a Soccer Elastico 146

18 Build a Superstack of Wood 150

19 Develop Film Using Coffee and Salt 154

20 Do a High-Speed Getaway J-Turn 157

21 Make Sushi … That Actually Looks and Tastes Like Sushi 160

22 Tell a Story That Will Enthrall Any Child 163

23 Immobilize Someone with an Aikido Hold 165

24 Juggle Four Balls 168

25 Master the Three-Card Trick 171

26 Grow a Bonsai Tree 175

27 Make a Perfect Soufflé Every Time 178

28 Make a Perfect Cube of Wood 181

29 Mix a Delightful Daiquiri 185

30 Walk the Tango Walk 188

31 Make Fire by Rubbing Two Sticks Together 191

32 Make Your Handwriting Beautiful 194

33 Micromaster Bargaining 197

34 Hone a Kitchen Knife So That It Is Razor Sharp 200

35 Lead a Small Group in the Wilderness 203

36 Learn to Read Japanese in Three Hours 206

37 Become a Street Photographer 208

38 Brew Delicious Craft Beer 211

39 Make Your Own Shirt 214

Micromaster Your Life 217

Permission to Be Interested 219

Your Many Selves 223

Punk Micromastery 230

Micromastery vs Global Pessimism 233

The BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST Picture 238

Editorial Reviews

10/09/2017
According to this enjoyably and infectiously enthusiastic self-help manual from Twigger (Red Nile), the key to skill acquisition is to focus on “micromastery,” or the mastering of small, attainable tasks. A micromastery is “complete in itself, but connected to a greater field”; the author compares micromastering a task to making an omelet, which is cooking but not the whole of cookery. Developing micromasteries, Twigger writes, encourages brain plasticity, self-confidence, and time spent in the “flow state” of being fully immersed in an activity and unconscious of outside distractions. To the author, humans are “polymathic by nature,” yet human cultures tend to overemphasize specialization. He writes with verve and has a knack for the illustrative example. For instance, to demonstrate that micromastery in one area can inspire advances in another, Twigger writes that Alexis Carrel, the 1912 Nobel Prize winner in medicine, learned from “his lace-making mother how to stitch incredibly tiny and intricate patterns” and later applied this ability to new advances in surgery. The book’s largest section describes a variety of possible micromasteries to develop, with instructions. Readers interested in expanding their skill-set—whether that means finding the depth of a well, chopping a log into firewood, surfing standing up, or singing even if tone-deaf—will profit from this amusing book.(Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Micromastery is a triumph. I read it with delight, and instantly vowed to put more conviction into the latest thing I'm trying, which is using a plectrum when I play the guitar."
—Philip Pullman

"I couldn't stop telling people about this book. Wise and joyful, it genuinely changed the way I thought about learning - and it left me bursting to put it into action."  
—Tim Harford, author of Messy

From the Publisher

Micromastery—the mastering of a simple, repeatable task such as splitting a log, balancing rocks, or making the perfect omelet—is a rewarding pursuit, though perhaps not an ideal topic for an audiobook. Narrator Roy McMillan energetically explains the rationale for micromastery and rallies listeners to action. It’s the second half of the audiobook that’s the challenge—step-by-step instructions for 39 micromastery tasks such as “Do a High-Speed Getaway J-Turn,” “Juggle Four Balls,” and “Make Fire by Rubbing Two Sticks Together.” The tasks and tips are well described and practical, and there’s lots of fun stuff to pursue. But unless you’ve mastered the bookmarking feature on your audio player, you’ll spend considerable time isolating and repeating the task you wish to learn. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2018 - AudioFile

Micromastery—the mastering of a simple, repeatable task such as splitting a log, balancing rocks, or making the perfect omelet—is a rewarding pursuit, though perhaps not an ideal topic for an audiobook. Narrator Roy McMillan energetically explains the rationale for micromastery and rallies listeners to action. It’s the second half of the audiobook that’s the challenge—step-by-step instructions for 39 micromastery tasks such as “Do a High-Speed Getaway J-Turn,” “Juggle Four Balls,” and “Make Fire by Rubbing Two Sticks Together.” The tasks and tips are well described and practical, and there’s lots of fun stuff to pursue. But unless you’ve mastered the bookmarking feature on your audio player, you’ll spend considerable time isolating and repeating the task you wish to learn. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2018 - AudioFile