the book itself is sort of a synthesis of all robert's other work and is what's considered to be the ultimate form of power which is mastering your field and being creative. if you have a mind that is so enriched with knowledge and knows your field so well, you can make all kinds of interesting associations between different ideas and see things other people don't see. that's like the philosopher's stone of power. you can be in any situation in life. you can be trapped on an island. you can be fired. you'll get your way back to the top because you know how to think and you know how to be creative.
the key to it is knowing who you are. it seem poetic but actually not that all of us are born unique. scientifically your dna will never be replicated, never happen before, never will happen again. there is something about you that is unique. you can say that same thing about the duck or lamb but they don't have consciousness and they can't express their uniqueness. a human being can. this uniqueness you have when you are born manifest itself by certain things you are drawn to. you are drawn to games, strategy, chess. that would be a napoleon. or you are drawn to music. or your are drawn to visual pattern. or you are drawn to sport. its very primal and it's showing something about you that's unique. i compare it to a voice inside when you are 5 or 6 years old saying that is what you really like robert. as we get older that voice tends to become drowned out by your parent saying go to law school, be a doctor. or money. money is the prime thing. i got to have to be comfortable because this is a tough world to live in and that voice get drowned out. in your 20 or 30 you can kind of fake it. if you end up in a field like you go into law. there may be people who are born to be lawyer. i have nothing against it. abraham lincoln loved law. that maybe was his life's task. but a lot of people go into the law which isn't their dream and it's not what they were drawn to as a child. you can fake your way in your 20 or 30's because you are young, life is exciting. money can be sort of motivating factor. but what happened is that you are less and less engaged in your work. you are not connected deeply. you are kind of bored. you are not paying deep attention. you are sort of skating by. and by your late 30's. it starts to catch up with you. people who are younger than you, or who are handsomer, who are less expensive, they replace you and suddenly you don't have the skill to adapt, because you didn't really follow something you are meant to follow. and the people who know themselves, it's not a matter of simply being a rock star and playing the guitar. you need to be practical. you have to find something that's related to your interest that you can live in a make money. but those who are the one that end up doing much better in their 30's and 40's making more money and being a lot more happier, not necessarily choosing the high power job when they are younger. so its a matter of connecting with that voice that was very clear in the childhood.
i think that people who are experimenting in their 20's, who learn different skills, who aren't so hang up on money. they are gonna be the ones that in their 30's and 40's are gonna be running this world, are gonna be making money. and i have seen it not only in history and i have 80000 examples of this. i told you. people like that. they are the ones that in their 30's or 40's are gonna be running this world. they have build up so many different skills.
and the other thing is, we all know this, when you are motivated, you can move mountains. if you are learning a foreign language because it's a requirement in college, you are not really paying attention. if you have a french girlfriend and you are living in france and you love french literature. suddenly you are paying attention. and in two weeks you can learn more than what you learned in two years of french at the university. because you are motivated. so when you are curious and excited about a field, you gonna be learn it really well. when you learn it really well, you enter this cycle of accelerated returns. they call it in chemistry autocatalysis. one bit of success leads to another lead to another. set into this sort of catalytic process where the mind suddenly jumps into gears and you become creative. if you learn something in two years intensely. it's ten times the value than if you learn it in ten years. so, motivation is the key to mastery and you are not gonna be motivated if you are destined to be a writer and you are studying law. you can ignore what i'm saying here but you know good luck.