Want to become a master in a certain field? Watch the classic "The Leap":

The book "Leap" systematically deconstructs the techniques of becoming a master:

Master's Camera Obscura: Using Laws to Amplify Efforts
Master Strategy: Doing the Right Thing in High Value Areas
Online learning: find the source of knowledge and improve cognitive efficiency
Breakthrough thinking: upgrade thinking to solve complex problems
Inner Cultivation: The Mind of the Jumpers

Let's interpret them one by one.

1. Master's Camera Obscura

The chapter begins with an example of a painting:

You're going to draw a big oil painting, and someone will ask you to give him a picture, project it on the canvas with a projector, draw a sketch, paint it, and you're done.

And mentioned the research results of the book "Hidden Knowledge": Raphael is also using a projector!

Then he said: No one has achieved great success only by hard work, talent, and opportunity. Jump-type success is based on the use of lower-level laws, which stimulates the leap-forward growth of individuals. This is to use the law to amplify the effort .

Therefore, we must act according to the inherent laws of things, in order to achieve more with less effort, otherwise we will have to take a lot of detours, and we can only look at the backs of others and sigh.

Next, the classics made a hierarchical division of self-transition:

Cognitive jump , this usually means that one day you suddenly want to understand a certain concept or thinking, your vision is opened, and your cognition is improved. For example, when you are doing development, you always feel that one language is more powerful and earns more money than the other. You have changed 7 or 8 back and forth, and one day you suddenly realize that each language is similar, can you get a higher level? The income depends on whether you have a local advantage in this technology and whether you can really use it to solve problems. This is a cognitive jump.
Ability transition , which usually means that you continue to act according to new thinking and methods, change from quantitative to qualitative, and cross the silent period. One day you find that your ability and level have risen to a higher level. Following the example developed earlier, you realize that you have an advantage in a certain technology to get a higher income, so you stabilized and began to work hard to polish a certain technology into your sword, and one day suddenly found that the people around you People come to ask you questions related to this technology, and you can easily help everyone deal with various incurable diseases, which means that your ability has jumped.
Energy level transition , ability transition to energy level transition, is the process of magnifying potential energy. For example, your influence has moved from the inside of the organization to the outside of the organization, and from the local to the industry. The vision and pattern have changed, and you have a completely different strength to see problems and do things.

The underlying logic of the transition is " paradigm breakthrough ". (The concept of paradigm comes from the book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions")

Important business and technological breakthroughs are often not technological breakthroughs, but paradigm breakthroughs brought about by the application and cognition of technology. Such as the invention of the airplane, the emergence of Uber, and the emergence of Airbnb.

Similarly, the transition of the self is also a change in the "paradigm" of cognition and development.

2. Master strategy

The master strategy refers to "doing the right thing in high-value areas". You want to find those "less but better" things. Don't do everything, your time is limited.

So, we need to discover our sweet spot, focus strategically, and wait for our opportunity. Don't follow the wind - a certain type of wind belongs to those who have been preparing for this type of wind. When you see it, they already have the relevant ability to dance with the wind. If you go after it, it will be too late.

How to find high-value areas around you? The author talks about the phenomenon of power law distribution.

Power laws have two characteristics:

Uneven height . For example, 20% of customers bring 80% of the business, 1% of Americans own 34% of the wealth in the United States...
Fractal . Fractal is "after a figure is subdivided, each part is a reduced shape of the whole". Such as coastlines, leaves, ice flowers...

The power-law distribution means that most systems have a key point. If you focus on the key point when you do things, and if you continue to focus on the key point, you will grasp the key to the highest efficiency.

For example, if you work in a software company, you are also doing development, testing tools, operation and maintenance tools, and product development, and the value is different; in all departments of product development, competitive products, cash flow products, future competitive products, and old products. Maintenance development, the value is different...you participate in the development of the most valuable product, and your efforts can be amplified.

That's it - position is more important than effort, which is the head effect.

If you can be the head, there is a huge advantage of taking advantage of the situation and you can enjoy the bonus. You can look around you, those who are valued and have high income, most of them are doing key things in key departments of the organization.

So, we have to find the head area that we can enter.

The so-called head is the high-value and advantageous area in your track.

Many people see the popularity of big data, so they quickly switch to big data; when they see the rise of AR/VR, they change quickly; when they see the popularity of artificial intelligence, they don’t hesitate to embrace machine learning…

These small partners believe that only the hottest field is the head field, and they believe that only by entering such a field can they achieve the transition.

But in fact, you don't have any advantage in these fields at all, you can't grab a suitable position at all, you will even fall behind for a while, and then you have to look for new opportunities, back and forth, always following the trend, never taking advantage The wind has danced.

The reality is that most people's heads are right next to you, first to be the head of your existing track, then you can see another track, and then try to be the head of the new track... iterates , from one head to another, from one success to another, and eventually you'll be a big head that can't be ignored.

Three principles of head effect:

Start with value, not advantage
Think Differentiation
Start from the head around you, from chicken head to crested head

This section also mentions two very important abilities of being a head: focus and continuous iteration.

3. Online Learning

This section first introduces two learning methods:

Find the source of knowledge . Most of the information we come into contact with in our daily life is second-hand, third-hand, or fourth-hand information, which has been diluted and repeated many times, either lacking nutrition or losing its true meaning. So, learn to tap the source of knowledge. For example, the 10,000-hour law of genius mentioned in the book "Outliers" written by Gladwell is actually third-hand information, the book "Deliberate Practice" is second-hand information, and the first-hand information is the 1993 Erickson et al. Published paper "The Role of Deliberate Practice in Professional Acquisition."
Utilitarian learning . The knowledge learned by adults is the most effective knowledge that can solve the current problems, has a place to use, and is moderately difficult. Therefore, when we study, we should start from the problems in work and life, and aim to solve the problem, which is the most efficient.

Next comes the most critical part of this part: online learning .

There is too much knowledge now, and it is unlikely that you will learn everything. It must be that you understand this part, he understands that part, and everyone can work together to solve bigger problems. So, for areas that you are not familiar with, there is no need to find answers by yourself, just ask others.

Here are three ways to learn:

Self-study: Find the answers yourself
Online learning: communicate with peers and exchange answers for answers
Cross-border online learning: cross-line learning and communication, exchange answers for answers

Take a look at your first reaction when you encounter a problem, and see which way of thinking you are:

When encountering a problem, think hard: "What can I do about this?"
When encountering a problem, look for a book: "Where is the answer?" Start looking for information through the Internet and books;
When you have a question, find someone: "Who is most likely to know the answer? What do I need to do before this?" Then be prepared to communicate and ask high-quality questions.

Online social learning is the fastest way to learn.

However, the premise is that you have some knowledge yourself that can be exchanged with others, and at the same time, you must be able to ask questions and integrate .

Next, the author mentions a cognitive shift: the problem tree is more important than the knowledge tree .

What you need is knowledge to solve problems.

What are you going to learn? The answer lies in what kind of problem you are trying to solve. The best way to boost your motivation to learn is to find questions that really interest you.

The real profession is that you are "especially good at solving a certain type of problem" .

A problem tree relies on a real, high-value problem that has the potential to be solved. It includes 4 aspects:

What kind of problems are we facing?
How do we know we've solved the problem?
What challenges and obstacles will we encounter?
What are our possible solutions?

Starting from these four questions, many keywords can be drawn, pointing to various fields, and each field will generate new keywords, and then grow into a "problem tree" about this problem.

After learning, followed by realization, the author provides an interesting method - knowledge IPO:

I: Input a question, with the goal of continuously solving the problem;
P: Problem solving, by integrating multidisciplinary knowledge;
O: Output products, through consulting research and development, teaching integration and writing, to make ideas into products.

There are three steps to designing your own knowledge IPO system:

You must have a real, high-value problem that has the potential to be solved (I)
Not to learn knowledge, but to solve problems (P)
Output pushes input (O)

When you can learn and solve problems around a scene problem, you will gradually form your own knowledge system.

When you form a personal knowledge system, your value will jump.

4. Breakthrough thinking

Why are so many questions unsolved? Because the answer is simply not in the system. "Single-dimensional thinkers" can never understand the overall "system thinking". Only by understanding the system can they break the game. In order to solve complex problems, only by thinking up the dimension.

I am interested in the first and second order changes (from Change) mentioned in this chapter.

There are two forms of change in things: one is a change that does not affect the original model, called "first-order change", which is "state change"; the other is a change in model, called "second-order change" ”, which is actually a “mode change”.

The first order of change: change within the system, change the state, change the experience.
The second order of change: for the change of the system, change the mode, change the result.

The so-called transition is to make oneself make second-order changes again and again, breaking the game again and again. The first step to change is to identify the system in which it is located.

A system consists of at least three factors: elements, the relationships between elements, and the function of the system.

A system has a fundamental characteristic: a system consists of elements and the relationships between them, and the relationships between the elements are more important than the elements.

Even if all elements are replaced, the system will remain the same, or change slowly, as long as the internal structure and function of the system are not changed.

It is said that China's feudal history is thousands of years...

It is said that if an official is corrupt, change it, and the newcomer is corrupt again, and then change it again... this is also the case.

Individuals are in many systems. In order to make a leap, they must learn to break the system.

After the era of industrialization, we are accustomed to a "reductionist" way of thinking: complex things can be divided into combinations of parts for analysis .

According to this way of thinking, if something goes wrong, the best solution is to add or replace an element, and if it works in the short term, it should be fine in the long term .

However, in the face of complex social problems, this kind of thinking often pays attention to one and the other. To do this, you have to use a systems-theoretic way of thinking.

The difference between reductionism and systemism is shown in the table below:

There are various cycles in our lives.

For example, these 4 growth engines will make you better and better:

good habits
From interest development to ability development
Quick learning knowledge IPO
The "trust-trust" cycle in enterprise management

But if you fall into the following 4 death spirals:

The poor get poorer : poor - no money to improve, no money to change - poor
Insufficient investment : no achievement - not enough resources invested - no achievement
The workaholic cycle : workaholic - low family investment - family unfulfilled - workaholic
Be yourself : seek approval - can't find yourself - seek approval

I'm afraid it will get worse.

If you want to jump out of the death spiral, you must know the game and break the game.

Good game breakers tend to know:

When an experience is great in the short term, you often have to be vigilant: what is the long-term loss?
And when this experience is short-term pain, you also need to motivate yourself: what will be the long-term benefits?

You can break the negative cycle by thinking in reverse time:

If you're too busy to think, does not having time to think make you busier?
If you always hope to turn around because you are poor, does this always make you poorer?
When you see reports that population brings poverty, you must also try to think about whether poverty also brings population growth?

Break this vicious negative cycle as soon as you see that these situations are connected end-to-end. You can do this by interrupting directly, introducing more resources, or building new loops.

Building a positive cycle requires thinking along the way:

If writing brings you fame, how can you use your fame to help you write better?
If skill refinement makes you successful, how can success make you more refined?
If doing something gives you something to gain, how can that gain lead to more of the same thing?

The answer to the first question is the knowledge IPO mentioned in Chapter 3. The thinking result of the second question is online learning and the method of "exchanging answers for answers"; the third situation is actually the essence of investment, using earned The money continues to be invested.

Once you have this awareness, you become a systems thinker, and your life begins to build all kinds of small positive loops, and the negative loops that eat away your energy will slowly stop.

After understanding the system, the next step is to understand the hierarchy - the multi-layer system. Life is made up of various multi-layered systems.

The self-management system of high-performing people is a "high-efficiency tower":

Resource layer : personal investment of time, energy, money, emotional resources;
Methodology layer : methodology for using resources and improving efficiency;
Target layer : choose what to do, what not to do, and the value judgment behind it.

From this perspective, diligence has three realms:

very hard . Anxiety, dare not stop, no study time, no method, low level of diligence.
Methodology Diligent . Knowing that there is a proper way to do something, and sometimes being able to do it the right way, is quite effective. But sometimes I get caught in a vicious circle of always looking for a way, trying again and again, but in the long run, I can't make much progress.
Fewer goals, strategic diligence . Know your core competitiveness, know your track, know your advantages, do less work, find leverage, and amplify potential energy.

From the matter of diligence, we can see two things in common with multi-layer systems:

The top decides the bottom
There is no solution to the lower layer, the upper layer

So, if you are stuck in a system, struggling but can't get out, you have to go to the upper system to find the answer.

After understanding the multi-layer system, the next step is to control the multi-layer system and achieve the goal.

There are three principles for controlling a multi-layer system:

Multi-layer layout : Appropriate control points should be arranged on each layer.
Single-point controllable : The control point must be in the controllable area. If it is beyond the scope of personal ability, it cannot be controlled.
Target Refraction : You don't necessarily have to go straight, but according to the characteristics of the multi-layer system, adjust the entry point and choose a path with less resistance.

Refer to P240 ~ P248 for details.

5. Inner cultivation

This chapter introduces the 7 mental keywords of the master:

open
focus
slow
interesting
Simple
good
can irritate

Facing the world, open and focused, enter the system.

Face yourself, dull and funny, intelligent and detached.

In the face of others, simple, kind, and irritating.

Be kind in the face of uncertainty.

Don't expand, let's read the book specifically...

6. What am I going to do

When I read this book, I had an idea: sort out what I'm doing, do subtraction, and then keep moving forward and do my head. Then, on to the next head.

I have already started to sort myself out, how about you, do you want to practice the methods in this book?

Welcome to leave a message for discussion after the article.

The leap: The technology to become a master