Jean Roberts

This Chapter flows easily and well from Chapter 3.

However, my journey of preparation explains the extra time taken to share chapter 4 with you – it was scheduled for March, and here we are in May.

For most of my adult life, I’ve been in love with three men – Shakespeare, Mozart and Einstein:

• In studying their lives, I’ve learned much about the way they learned, studied, observed, handled difficult times, responded to challenges, and invested countless hours over many years in practising their craft, and
• In studying their work, I’ve learned much about human nature and experience from Shakespeare; the emotional and theoretical beauty of music from Mozart; and the predictable relationship between mass and energy through a reliable conversion factor from Einstein.

And for most of my adult life, I’ve been closely involved with adult learning – both as a learner and as a facilitator of learning.

Since 1986, my adult learning has extended to and consistently included the spiritual aspect of daily living.

Preparing this chapter has been an interesting journey in itself.

It was always my intention to feature Daniel Stufflebeam’s work on the seven categories of growth and development: as I re-read this material, it became obvious that the work of Malcolm Knowles in self-direction in learning and informal adult education is equally appropriate. Then, in re-reading the background to Knowles’ work, I came across the name Alfred North Whitehead – and his principle of relativity, the essence of each entity is determined by its relation to everything else. And of course, Whitehead led me to Einstein, and to a review of David Dobbs’ book E=mc² (and a lot of hard work).

The Age newspaper (in Australia) featured an article about David and his book on 16th October 2006, and here’s a short extract from that article:

It seems the ability we’re so fond of calling talent or even genius arises not from innate gifts but from an interplay of fair (but not extraordinary) natural ability, quality instruction and a mountain of work. This new discipline – a mix of psychology and cognitive science – has now produced its first large collection of expert reviews, the massive Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance.

The book essentially tells us to forget the notion that “genius”, “talent” or any other innate qualities create the greats we call geniuses. Instead, as the American inventor Thomas Edison said, genius is 99 per cent perspiration – or, to be truer to the data, perhaps 1 per cent inspiration, 29 per cent good instruction and encouragement, and 70 per cent perspiration. Examine closely even the most extreme examples – Mozart, Newton, Einstein, Stravinsky – and you find more hard-won mastery than gift. Geniuses are made, not born.

During this journey, I heard about Anders Ericsson and his work on Deliberate Practice. An internet search soon located the following paper:

1993, Vol. 100. No. 3, 363-406
Copyright 1993 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance
(K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer)

This article introduced me to the theory of Deliberate Practice, and in turn drew me back to a book in my own library – Michael J. A. Howe’s Genius Explained (published in 1999 by The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge), which introduced me to the practice itself.

This article introduced me to the theory of Deliberate Practice, and in turn drew me back to a book in my own library – Michael J. A. Howe’s Genius Explained (published in 1999 by The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge), which introduced me to the practice itself.

In the introduction to his book, Howe reviews the early life of Mozart to draw out seven relevant factors that seem to comprise Deliberate Practice:

1. motivation,
2. preparation,
3. commitment/focus,
4. mentor,
5. skill development,
6. memory – remembering new facts that can be linked to whatever the individual already knows, and
7. enthusiasm.

Several authors (who are mainly researchers) writing about Deliberate Practice quote the figure of 10,000 hours of practice. Howe writes, on page 4, about his and others’ research findings in examining links between musicians’ performance standards and the training they have undertaken:

The research findings make it clear that in all performing musicians, high levels of skill depend upon large amounts of daily practice. In one study, for instance, researchers estimated the number of hours of formal practice notched up by German student violinists in their early twenties. By the age of twenty-one, the best students in the performance class of a conservatoire had accumulated around 10,000 hours.

And, on page 5:

Practice and preparation are equally vital in other fields of achievement. For instance, around two years of sustained training are needed for a chess player to each international levels, and it takes comparable periods of time to reach the highest standards in mathematics, the sciences, tennis, athletics, and a number of other sports. As in music, although it is widely believed that certain gifted individuals can excel without doing the lengthy practicing that ordinary people have to engage in, the evidence contradicts that view.

How does all of this preparation relate to my spiritual journey as an independent consultant?

The seven categories of growth and development (below) summarize the key aspects of our daily life through which each person is able to experience the collective consciousness on their spiritual journey by:

• listening to others,
• accepting challenges,
• displaying a genuine and caring interest in the people that you work, live or study with,
• sharing and teaching as you go,
• threatening walls of uncertainty, unseen barriers, and pools of doubt and anger, through
• the presence and power of the collective consciousness – which are limitless and endless.

I have been a long-time admirer of the words and work of Daniel L. Stufflebeam, of the Evaluation Center, College of Education, Western Michigan University. In a paper he presented at the AERA Evaluation Conference in San Francisco, USA, on September 23rd 1977, he proposed this set of primary areas of need in education:

‘Needs’ in education derive from the purpose of schooling which is to promote human growth and development. In my view, the following seven developmental areas apply:

1. intellectual development – development of the power or faculty of the mind by which one knows or understands, as distinguished from that by which one feels and that by which one wills: the faculty of thinking and acquiring knowledge.
2. emotional development – development of the capacity to deal effectively with feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like and development of a realistic and positive self concept.
3. physical development – development of motor coordination, body fitness, and hygiene and athletic abilities.
4. moral development – development of principles and habits with respect to right or wrong conduct and acquiring the ability to conform to these principles rather than to custom or even to law when these are at variance with one’s moral convictions.
5. aesthetic development – developing a sense of , appreciation for, and ability to create beauty, especially as manifested in the areas of music, art, drama and dance
6. vocational development – developing a conception of the world of work and of one’s career interests and aptitudes, and preparing to engage in gainful and fulfilling employment
7. social development – developing the capacity and habit of living in friendly companionship with others in family and community settings and developing and implementing a sense of responsibility for promoting and sustaining civilization.
   These ‘primary areas of need in education’ seem to be as appropriate to life-long education, or to the education of life and living, as they are to formal education.

As well as defining these categories, further definitions are called for:

• growth: an increase in years, maturity, experience, knowledge, etc – and is usually measurable,
• development: the process of growing – and is best appreciated through reflection or retrospection, and
• involvement and importance of the Spirit: improving and increasing one’s spiritual communication through enlightenment (the art of knowing) and communication (the science of enlightenment) – as in Chapter 3.

The diagram below is intended to show that these seven categories of growth and development contribute to any person’s life experience (Stufflebeam), are related to each other, and with everything else in one’s life (Whitehead et al), can be explored through – and subjected to – adult and self-directed learning (Knowles) and are able to be improved and refined through deliberate practice (Ericsson et al, and Howe).

In the introduction to this e-book, I’ve explained Retrospective Planning:

Retrospective planning is the ability to direct your attention back over a series of actions taken over a period of time after the impact of those actions has become tangible and real in order to recognise and appreciate:

1. Purpose,
2. Form,
3. Structure,
4. Rhyme,
5. Rhythm, and
6. Reasons.

Retrospective planning also allows objective observation, where the emotional component can be suspended during silent and unaccompanied reflection. For myself as a long-term small business owner/manager, this has enabled my acknowledgement of the fact of my survival as such. At least I can recognize that I’ve come through my years of self-employment, surviving and withstanding the substantial factors and reasons for small business failure in years 1, 2, 5 and 10 of operation that are the subject of continual and extensive research, study and publication throughout the world.

The process of retrospective planning requires a cluster of return journeys, a sequence of mind-travel to look over previous activity and non-activity. And the act and benefit of ‘looking’ is always advanced if we are using the relevant magnifying lens.

Retrospective planning is greatly assisted with the theories and practices to be found in the words and work of Stufflebeam, Whitehead et al, Knowles, Ericsson et al, and Howe.

In my 2008 book, One Man show – the smallest of small business, I’ve introduced Entrepreneurship with this reference and quote:

In their book The Innovation Formula – how organisations turn change into opportunity (published in 1988 by Ballinger Publishing Company), Michael Robert and Alan Weiss state that entrepreneurs are often viewed as ‘business swashbucklers who catapult new ideas into public prominence while they storm the walls of the establishment’.

However with the benefit and wisdom of 20 years of research, these authors present a very different picture with their descriptive yet prescriptive statement that they found ‘true entrepreneurs aren’t pirates, but disciplined sailors who anticipate the winds and tides of change’.

(This book is based on the practical and recorded experiences of two One Man Shows – my career as a One Man Show since 1985, and Shakespeare’s career as a One Man Show from 1592 to his death in 1613)

As mentioned previously, I’ve kept a spiritual journal since 1986.

Most of my work as an independent consultant has been closely involved with people – with individuals, groups, organisations, bureaucracies and institutions. Attitudes and behaviours, likes and dislikes, skills and abilities, and particularly willingness to interact with colleagues and context have been the focus of both my work and study.

During the 1990s, I recorded this reflection after watching a television news item about the rescue of lone-yachtsmen:

I realised that they were not just yachtsmen, they were master yachtsmen and had survived because they were prepared. They had come through – they hadn’t just got up one morning and then sailed around the world single-handed. They had worked and trained and practiced and mastered their craft of yachting. Each of these three men had practiced their mastery and sustained themselves against all sorts of odds, and were able to be rescued. There was great ability among the rescuers, but there was also great ability among the rescued.

They knew what to do, they were clever – they were masters of the craft of yachting. They knew what to do in an emergency and crisis, and they did it. They used their equipment, they used their knowledge and they used their single-mindedness with their environment and with the Universe.

One of them has announced that, together with the yachtsman who was involved in his rescue, they are going to work at developing some means that the yachts won’t turn over: they are going to use their experience to improve the art of yachting. They are going to give, because of their experience, they are going to take yachting a step further and improve all those who follow them.

As I was thinking, I accepted the understanding of the mastery of these men and the mastery of their rescuers. I realised that it is possible to master the craft of spiritual communication, of moving toward my destiny, of single-mindedness in my spiritual path, and that I am on a marathon journey in this life.

When reading The Innovation Formula, it was a simple process to appreciate a spiritual application of this fact through reflection on actual events.

So, I’ll share one memorable experience with you and invite you to ponder on it, in the light of the theories and practices shared in this chapter:

This is a real-life incident from April 1993, recorded on the same evening in great detail and while still experiencing the after-shock!

This morning, I drove up through Lilydale and Yea and across to Benalla, joining the Hume Highway there. I stopped at the BP Service Centre for a coffee and sandwich and phoned ahead to tell my client that I was about an hour away and got in the car.

Just further along the freeway was a turnoff to Wangaratta. I was following a truck. The continuing freeway was obviously very new and had some barriers across but the truck moved through a gap in the barriers and I followed the truck because I didn’t need to go in to Wangaratta.

In steaming along this new section of the freeway, there were now no other cars in front or behind me: and on the other side of the Highway for Melbourne-bound traffic, I saw a car travelling along in the same direction as me! So I quickly decided that the other side wasn’t open yet.

After a few miles, I suddenly came across a sign in the centre of my road which said ‘no road’. What to do? Where do I go now: can’t go back again because this is a one-way freeway. I looked over to the front and left of me. A couple of hundred yards away were three road-making vehicles and a few guys walking around so I thought I would drive over to ask them what I should do.

I drove over a little way toward them, stopped, had another look at them, then started to move the car towards them. Suddenly, I was aware of this enormous transport pulling parallel with me on my left (passenger) side. I stopped suddenly. He was veering off the road and I realised that he had had to do this to avoid me. I looked behind him and there were about 5 cars pulling up abruptly.

I realised that I had pulled out across the road in front of oncoming traffic – and that the transport had desperately and successfully avoided me. I could see the driver looking at me through his rear-vision mirror. He got himself back on the road and away he went.

I looked back at the cars and everybody was looking at me and wondering what on earth I was doing. The men at the side of the road were looking very concerned and one of them was waiting for the traffic to go by before coming over to me.

I realised then that I had been on an unopened road: I had been meant to go off at the Wangaratta exit and drive through the town until the road joined the new freeway – which was where I was now. I got out of my car and the gent came over to ask me if I was alright. My car had miraculously not been touched. I said the good thing about that was that I didn’t see the truck until it was next to me. I said that I didn’t see any of them. I told him what had happened and he said ‘you’ve had a preview… that will be opened tomorrow.’

He asked me if I was alright. I said I was. He said ‘that’s all that matters: that’s OK then. You’ve had a preview.’

I replied ’that could have been a tragedy. I could have caused a tragedy’

Resuming my journey, I was feeling as calm as could be. I knew I had experienced something of great importance to me, that I had been protected, and that I had been shown something of great importance to my spiritual growth.

This was a lesson. I was learning something, I was being shown something. I know it was important. I remembered the words that the gentleman said – and he had been so kind, so very kind.

I had gone along the road which wasn’t yet officially open. I had followed a truck with great confidence, and now I was re-entering the mainstream from this virgin territory. It was unopened, it was an unavailable road. In re-entering the mainstream, I had forced the transport off the road, caused a stir, certainly got noticed! Then this kind man had told me that I’s had a preview and could use it tomorrow.