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“… learn Karpov through Kasparov.”—Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

Josh Waitzkin was a former chess prodigy and the main character and inspiration in the film, Searching for Bobby Fischer. His quote, “learn Karpov through Kasparov” reflects an essential part of learning that is often overshadowed. Waitzkin was naturally an aggressive, creative chess player like Kasparov. As he matured, chess masters tried to “mature” his game by having him follow a different style (Karpov) which suppressed his natural, creative self and caused disharmony and flux in his game.

We all have dormant creative forces that are naturally innate within all of us. These creative forces are so core to how we interact with the world, we do not have to consciously call upon them. They are intrinsic to how we think, act, and feel… they are naturally part of us. But often times in the pursuit of success and excellence we get lost in the methods and teachings of “gurus”. While their advice and teachings can be very profound and helpful, ask yourself if it is congruent with your natural authentic self.

Anthony Robbins once said, “Success leaves clues”. Many achievement coaches speak about modeling greatness in order to accelerate your success. But often times in seeking to increase and expand our potential, we replace who we are and try to overlay our authentic self with someone with who we want to be. When this happens, our authentic self is suppressed and our creativity is hindered.

I’ve made the mistake before- trying to find someone who had the money, lifestyle, career, health, etc. that I wanted. So I read everything I could to try to attain that level. But when the success didn’t come, I realized I was trying to force myself to become someone I wasn’t. That is when I learned the value of stepping into your own. For a while, I was uncomfortable with myself because I thought and learned differently, so I read and studied people I thought I wanted to be. I tried to replace my core competencies with different systems and teachings. It didn’t work.

It didn’t work, because it wasn’t congruent with my authentic self. I was trying to hide and suppress who I really was. The Universe gives us all talents and gifts that make us unique from one another, cultivated and expanded properly we are all able to share the beauty of life in our own style and way. We are able to share and learn from each other. But it is only until we embrace who we are, to recognize our core competencies is our greatest gifts and not weakness, we will not be able to expand and give of ourselves.