Book Summary On Mastery| By Author Robert Greene

Specific Knowledge-Reading People

When looking for cues to observe, you should be sensitive to any kind of extreme behavior on their part-for instance, a blustery front, an overly friendly manner, a constant penchant for jokes.  You will often notice that they wear this like a mask to hide the opposite, to distract others from the truth.  They are blustery because they are inwardly very insecure, they are overly friendly because they are security ambitious and aggressive, or they joke to hide a mean-spiritedness.

In general, you are reading and decoding every possibly sign-including the clothes they wear and the organized or disorganized nature of their workspace.  The choice of mate, or partner can be quite eloquent too, particularly if it seems slightly inconsistent with the character they try to project.  In this choice, they can reveal unmet needs from childhood, a desire for power and control, a low self-imagery and other qualities they normally seek to disguise.  What might seem like small issues-chronically being late, insufficient attention to detail, not returning any favors on your part-are signs of something deeper about their character.  These are patterns you must pay attention to. 

You must avoid the common mistake of making judgements based on your initial impressions of people.  Such impressions can sometimes tell you something but more often they are misleading.  There are several reasons for this; in your initial encounter, you tend to be nervous, less open, and more inward; you are not really paying attention.  Furthermore, people have trained themselves to appear a certain way; they have a persona they use in public that acts like a second skin to protect them.  Unless you are incredibly perceptive you will tend to mistake the mask for the reality.  For instance, the man you judged to be powerful and assertive may be merely masking his fears and may have far less power than you first imagined. Often It is the quiets one who hide greater depths, and who secretly wield greater power. 

What you want is a picture of a person’s character over time, which will give you a far more accurate sense of their true character than any first impression could.  So, restrain yourself from the natural to judge right away, and let the passing months reveal and more about who people are, as you get better at reading them.

In the end, your goal is to identify and, pierce through to what makes people unique, to understand the character and values that lie at their cores.  The more you can fathom about people’s pasts and their way of thinking about things, the more deeply you can enter in their spirit.  In this way, you will be able understand their motivations, foresee their actions, and recognize how best to win them to your side.  You will no longer be operating in the dark. 

You will encounter thousands of various individuals in your life, and the ability to see them as they will prove invaluable.  Keep in mind however, that people are in a state of continual flux.  You must not let your ideas about them harden into a set impression.  You are continually observing them and bringing your readings of them up to date.

Citation: Book Title: Mastery, Author, Robert Greene, Page 139-140.

This is the summary of  the book, Mastery, a New York Times #1 Best Seller by renown author, Robert Greene; as a owner of this book, it is a good book worth purchasing.  It is available at Amazon And BAM