Mastery is the second strategy in the Strategic Transformation phase of our Unconventional Fundamental Strategy.
Strategic Transformation means becoming the type of person who can use their passion to harmoniously fulfill the financial, professional, and personal purposes they were created for.
To do that, we must first identify exactly what those purposes are—that’s what we accomplished in the Purpose course.
That gives us a clear picture of the kind of person we need to become. Now, we can begin to find, build, and adapt the philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics required to transform into that person.
Without these, we remain stuck in the chasm between knowing our purpose and being able to fulfill it.
Mastery is where we begin building the structures that allow us to make progress by generating power—time, energy, creativity, and currency—rather than depleting it.
Mastery Distinction
Mastery is the ability to design, build, deploy, measure, and modify philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics in a way that allows you to fulfill your intended outcomes.
Mastery: Negative Impacts
Unfulfilled Ambition – Without mastery, the goals, dreams, intentions, and purposes of the ambitious go unfulfilled BECAUSE they don’t have real action plans that have been designed to work within the realities of our environment.
Unfulfilled Ambition – Without mastery, the goals, dreams, intentions, and purposes of the ambitious go unfulfilled BECAUSE they don’t have real action plans that have been designed to work within the realities of our environment.
Life Spent– Outside of mastery, the ambitious live in a way that depletes their time, energy, creativity, and currency BECAUSE life is mastering them.
Life Spent– Outside of mastery, the ambitious live in a way that depletes their time, energy, creativity, and currency BECAUSE life is mastering them.
Mastery: Positive Impacts
Turning Plans into Reality – Within mastery, our intentions and action plans turn into real, deeply meaningful, and satisfying outcomes BECAUSE we have effective strategies that have been custom-designed for our specific selves and situations.
Turning Plans into Reality – Within mastery, our intentions and action plans turn into real, deeply meaningful, and satisfying outcomes BECAUSE we have effective strategies that have been custom-designed for our specific selves and situations.
They’re meaningful and effective because they fulfill the purpose for which you were created.
They’re satisfying because you know that you’re deploying your time, energy, creativity, and currency toward the right things at the right times.
They’re custom to you because they were designed with both the strengths and limitations of your particular self and situation.
Abundance Through Mastery – As we learn to master all of the parts of our lives, we live a life with abundant levels of time, energy, and creativity BECAUSE mastery produces action plans that are designed to fulfill the purposes for which we were created, and our Creator didn’t create us to fail.
Abundance Through Mastery – As we learn to master all of the parts of our lives, we live a life with abundant levels of time, energy, and creativity BECAUSE mastery produces action plans that are designed to fulfill the purposes for which we were created, and our Creator didn’t create us to fail.
Purpose Uncovered – The very act of mastering our purposes reveals more of their details, allowing us to understand them more deeply and fulfill them more effectively BECAUSE mastery is fundamentally produced by the identification and sequencing of the details.
Purpose Uncovered – The very act of mastering our purposes reveals more of their details, allowing us to understand them more deeply and fulfill them more effectively BECAUSE mastery is fundamentally produced by the identification and sequencing of the details.
Greater Impact Through Mastery – As we master our ability to live a good and dignified life, our actual and perceived value to those we love and lead, both professionally and personally, radically increases BECAUSE it is our personal mastery of life that produces the qualities and characteristics required to meaningfully impact the lives of others.
Greater Impact Through Mastery – As we master our ability to live a good and dignified life, our actual and perceived value to those we love and lead, both professionally and personally, radically increases BECAUSE it is our personal mastery of life that produces the qualities and characteristics required to meaningfully impact the lives of others.
Mastery Parts and Practices
To master anything, we must move through its complexity in a way that:
ONE: Increases our power—time, energy, creativity, and currency.
TWO: Produces the positive impacts we’re after and mitigates and or eliminates the negative impacts that we need to avoid.
THREE: Maintains those impacts as the environment changes.
To do that, we use a four-part performance formula I relied on as a SEAL sniper instructor to help students master one of the most demanding skill sets on the planet:
To identify is to know the nature and operations of a thing.
To identify is to know the nature and operations of a thing.
Assess — is to observe our current practices and determine whether they will or will not produce and maintain our desired impacts, both now and into the future.
Assess — is to observe our current practices and determine whether they will or will not produce and maintain our desired impacts, both now and into the future.
Prioritize by Power – is how we eliminate overwhelm and mental clutter while moving in a way that increases our time, energy, creativity, and currency as we get things done.
Prioritize by Power – is how we eliminate overwhelm and mental clutter while moving in a way that increases our time, energy, creativity, and currency as we get things done.
We do this by asking ourselves two questions before committing to any action plan.
FIRST: What is the one thing that, if handled, would positively impact all the other things?
SECOND: What is the one thing that would produce a meaningful return on our investment of time, energy, creativity, and currency?
Execute and Evolve – is the commitment to take action for the purpose of generating the information you need to stop, start, or modify those actions until they produce and sustain the desired impacts.
Execute and Evolve – is the commitment to take action for the purpose of generating the information you need to stop, start, or modify those actions until they produce and sustain the desired impacts.
Mastery I.A.P.E. Overview
In the video below I’m going to do a quick high level overview here so that you can see how this works as a whole.
For sure take notes as insights show up for you, but don’t worry about any of the “How To” stuff.
In the “Mastery 1.0 Tactics” lesson that comes next we’ll take each part of the Identify – Assess – Prioritize by Power & Execute & Evolve.
Simple & Powerful
This formula is very simple—so I want to give you a quick heads-up. It’s easy to understand, but that doesn’t mean you should dismiss it. There’s more depth involved when it comes to actual execution.
Also, it’s not just a formula. It’s a sequence of moves—and a way of seeing the world.
It’s not about adding more to your already demanding schedule. It’s about conditioning yourself to operate differently. In a way that builds your power—time, energy, creativity, and currency—instead of depleting it.
Next Steps
Before we get into the tactics of Mastery, there are two other very important concepts you need to understand: Crossing Complexity and Your Operating System.
Your operating system is what controls your past, present, and your future.
Crossing Complexity not only makes life work, but it’s what allows you to take control of your operating system.
Strategic Writing
When we write, we expand our understanding in ways that produce new thinking—thinking that leads to more powerful distinctions, which allow us to better identify and fulfill the purposes for which we were created.
1: Without the right philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics in place, how likely is it that you’ll be able to fulfill your purposes?
2: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if YOU WERE operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
3: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if you YOU WERE NOT operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
4: How will your ability to master life positively impact the value you are to others?
1: Without the right philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics in place, how likely is it that you’ll be able to fulfill your purposes?
Without the right philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics in place it is unlikely, if not impossible, to achieve my purpose.
2: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if you were operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
If I were operating in a way that built up my deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency then they would compound over time, making it more likely that I would achieve my purpose.
3: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if you were operating in a way that depleted your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
If my deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency were being depleted then I would be on a negative cycle, and unlikely to achieve as much tomorrow as I do today.
4: How will your ability to master life positively impact the value you are to others?
Without mastering my own life positively I will be spending more time just trying to survive, and unable to positively impact others, and may end up negatively impacting others.
1: Without the right philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics in place, how likely is it that you’ll be able to fulfill your purposes?
It is not possible to fulfill our purposes in this way. The process is very complex, I can already see how everything impacts everything, so if there are not used the right philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics, that would allow us to go though the whole process, it is not possible to fulfill our purposes.
2: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if you were operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
Each step on my way that brings me more power (time, energy, creativity, and currency) makes fulfilling my purposes more likely. If I keep this way, these small steps will create a system of philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics that will allow me to fulfill my purposes.
3: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if you were operating in a way that depleted your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
If I was operating in a way that depleted my deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency, I would never be able to fulfill my purposes. If I put more time, energy, creativity, and currency everytime than I get back, it is like a vicious circle, where I lose more and more, and fulfilling my purposes is moving away until it disappears.
4: How will your ability to master life positively impact the value you are to others?
The more I master my own life, the more I am valuable to others. I am more able to support them, I am able to teach and lead them by my example more effectively.
1: Without the right philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics in place, how likely is it that you’ll be able to fulfill your purposes?
– 100% unlikely. It’s impossible to imagine that without these things I could fulfill by purposes. I wouldn’t even know what they were.
2: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if you were operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
– (I think this question is intended to be the inverse of the one below) Very UNlikely that as my power is depleted I will be drained and unable to fulfill my purposes.
3: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if you were operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
– Very likely that as my power grows I will be increasingly able to fulfill my purposes. Over time I will be more and more the kind of person who can fulfill my purposes holistically and harmoniously.
4: How will your ability to master life positively impact the value you are to others?
– My ability to master life will provide me with wisdom and value to share with others, will make me fully present to the needs of others, and help me enjoy time with others more deeply. I will have something to demonstrate and to offer them as they seek to fulfill their purposes.
Q #1. Without the right philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics in place, how likely is it that you’ll be able to fulfill your purposes?
A #1: If I’m honest with myself—the answer is simple. Not very likely.
You see, purpose without a plan is just a wish. And I’ve wished before. A lot. But wishing never got me where I wanted to go. What changed everything was when I realized that success isn’t something we stumble into—it’s something we build. Brick by brick. Bit by bit.
I used to think passion would be enough. That if I just worked hard, or cared deeply, somehow everything would come together. But effort without direction? That just leads to burnout. It’s like rowing hard in a boat with no rudder and no coxswain —you sweat a lot, but you don’t go anywhere that matters.
So I had to learn—philosophy guides my thinking, strategy directs my focus, tools make my work easier, training sharpens my skill, and tactics help me execute when the pressure’s on.
Without those, my purpose stayed stuck in the clouds. With them, I started to build something real—step by step, choice by choice.
The truth? I can’t afford to leave my purpose up to chance. Not anymore. And neither can anyone else.
Q #2: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if YOU WERE operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
A #2: Now that’s a different story. If I were operating like that—building as I go, getting stronger with every step—my chances of fulfilling my purpose would go way up. That’s the kind of rhythm I’ve been searching for all along.
Imagine that: instead of feeling drained at the end of every day, I’m actually gaining ground—mentally, physically, financially, creatively. I’m not just working to survive. I’m working in a way that multiplies my ability to keep going. That’s not just success. That’s sustainability.
See, when I build systems that give me more time back… when my effort gives me energy instead of stealing it… when ideas flow and money starts working for me… then I’m not stuck in survival mode anymore.
I’m becoming the kind of person who can carry their purpose all the way to the finish line.
That kind of momentum? It changes everything. And it makes fulfilling my purpose not just possible—but probable.
Q #3: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if YOU WERE NOT operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
A #3: That’s easy—not very likely at all.
If I keep spending my time, burning out my energy, and draining my creativity just to check boxes and stay afloat, then I’m running on empty. And when I’m empty, I’ve got nothing left to give to the things that matter most.
I’ve lived that way before—busy but not better. Tired but not transformed. And I can tell you: the cost is too high.
Without a system that builds me up as I go, even the best intentions start to break down. I get distracted. I cut corners. I settle for less than I’m capable of. And my purpose? It gets pushed to “someday”—and someday never comes.
The truth is, if I’m not gaining power while I’m getting things done, I’m falling behind—even if it looks like I’m moving forward.
PURPOSE DOESN’T THRIVE IN EXHAUSTION. IT THRIVES IN OVERFLOW. And if I want to fulfill mine, I can’t afford to keep running dry.
Q #4: How will your ability to master life positively impact the value you are to others?
A #4: If I can master my life—truly master it—then everyone around me benefits.
My family gets the best version of me—not the stressed-out, half-present version, but the one who shows up with energy, clarity, and care. My team, my clients, my community—they don’t just get my effort… they get my excellence.
The more I grow, the more I have to give. When I’m solid in who I am, I become a safe place for others. Because when I’m disciplined, I become dependable. And when I operate with purpose, I inspire it in others.
Let’s not forget—people are always watching. Not just what I say, but how I live. When they see mastery in motion, it gives them permission to raise their own standards too.
So yes—the better I get at mastering my own life, the more value I bring to everyone else’s. That’s a legacy worth leaving.
1: Without the right philosophies, strategies, tools, training, and tactics in place, how likely is it that you’ll be able to fulfill your purposes?
Not likely at all. I need to professionalize every aspect of my life to rise to the challenge, demands and purposes God has for my life. Life is extremely competitive and short. I have tasted enough failure in my past; I am ready to setup my life for flow and mastery.
2: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if YOU WERE operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
Very likely. By consciously caring for all the parts of my life in a meaningful way, I know whether new opportunities fit within the scope of the practices toward my purposes, and stay committed to what I have already committed to.
3: How likely would you be to fulfill your purposes if you YOU WERE NOT operating in a way that built up your deployable levels of time, energy, creativity, and currency as you got things done?
I would rob other areas of my life to master single areas of my life.
4: How will your ability to master life positively impact the value you are to others?
I can become more available with more margin to truly listen, be present, and have applicable life experience that informs my guidance and provides value offers to others in a way that garners respect and attention from others who now look at me as an expert.