Finnell, Joshua (August 20, 2009). "The Blingdom of God: Books on the Religion of Hip-Hop". Library Journal. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. You start by observing who is doing well in the field and trying to learn rules and strategies through your observation of them. Robert Greene. The Aha! Moments That Made Paul Grahms Y Combinator Possible. Fast Company. November 12, 2012. In the sciences, you will tend to entertain ideas that fit your own preconceptions and that you want to believe in. This unconsciously colors your choices of how to verify these ideas, and is known as confirmation bias. Over the years, as we progress on this path, we begin to merge our knowledge of these various components into an overall feel for the environment itself. Instead of exerting and overtaxing ourselves to keep up with a complex, changing environment, we know it from the inside and can sense the changes before they happen.

Most of us have these negative qualities—Envy, Conformism, Rigidity, Self-obsessiveness, Laziness, Flightiness, and Passive Aggression—in relatively mild doses. But in a group setting, there will inevitably be people who have one or more of these qualities to a high enough degree that they can become very destructive. We shall call these negative qualities the Seven Deadly Realities. We imagine that creativity and brilliance just appear out of nowhere, the fruit of natural talent, or perhaps of a good mood, or an alignment of the stars. It would be an immense help to clear up the mystery— to name this feeling of power, to examine its roots, to define the kind of intelligence that leads to it, and to understand how it can be manufactured and maintained. Let us call this sensation mastery— the feeling that we have a greater command of reality, other people, and ourselves. Although it might be something we experience for only a short while, for others— Masters of their field— it becomes their way of life, their way of seeing the world. (Such Masters include Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, and Martha Graham, among many others.) And at the root of this power is a simple process that leads to mastery— one that is accessible to all of us.” Occupy the perfect niche - choose a rough area that interests you, look for side paths that interest you, and continually move towards a narrower niche. Alternatively, blend two distinct areas of expertise that compliment each other.There’s a lot of work involved when achieving mastery at its fullest. Needless to say achieving it is quite hard. The author did a job well done in breaking limiting beliefs in achieving this.

Revert to a feeling of inferiority: Zen mind beginner’s mind, if we feel like we already know something or have mastered it, then we stop learning. Need to assume we’re beginners and that there’s more to learn. When asked in 2012 if he is religious, Greene said "I'm Jewish but I don't have a hardcore spiritual practice. I'm not hardcore Atheist; I'm sort of how Einstein was: He wasn't a believer in the Jewish God. I'm intrigued by the sense that there's something there." [77]The goal of apprenticeship is not money, a good position, a title or a diploma, but rather learning. Passive Aggression: The root cause of all passive aggression is the human fear of direct confrontation— the emotions that a conflict can churn up and the loss of control that ensues. Strategies for Acquiring Social Intelligence We enter a new field with excitement, but also fear about how much there is to learn ahead of us. The greatest danger here is boredom, impatience, fear, and confusion. Once we stop observing and learning, the process towards mastery comes to a halt.