I have been writing about the differences between the Sages and Masters in my work recently as a part of the 8 Stages to a Quality Career.

It seems to be the Gap where most people get stuck over time.

See, in order to reach the final Stage of Legend, you must be a Sage throughout your Career.

The Sage is one who continuously Innovates and Pushes the Boundaries of their Industry, Changing the Landscape and being Recognized for it.

But the problem is few people reach the level of Sage, and of those few most of them end up dropping back down to Masters.

If you stop Innovating and Pushing those Boundaries, eventually those Innovations and Boundaries simply become the "Norm" that all other Masters figure out, making you just a Master.

In music, this would be called the "One-Hit Wonder".

Now, you can have a great career as a Master, don't get me wrong.

But as the saying goes, Legends Never Die.

So if you goal is to reach the highest level of Legend, you must be able to get to the Sage and then stay there.

Anyone can do something amazing once in their career, but the Sage must continuously do it.

So how do they accomplish that?

What allows them to stay at the level of Sage?

Well, it starts with Energy (Mg-ATP).

The process of Innovation requires a lot of Energy (Mg-ATP) to maintain.

If your body does not have the Energy (Mg-ATP) it goes into Survival Mode.

When we are in Survival Mode, exploration and going into the "unknown" (aka Innovation) is a major risk that the body simply cannot go after.

You body will quite literally and purposefully create roadblocks to being a Sage when you do not have the Energy.

In today's world, we have a lot of Leaders trying to figure out how to get more Innovation out of their workforce, but are oblivious to the Human Reality that Innovation requires Energy.

When 80% of Employees are experiencing Group Burnout, with more on the way, and considering Stress is literally Contagious via Neurocardiology, People simply don't have the Energy to get there.

See, Burnout occurs when the body is using more Energy than it can Produce for so long that the Body begins to literally tear itself apart.

In the Effort to "Survive", the Body makes Short-Term Sacrifices that in the long-term only create more problems.

If Leaders Focused on fixing the Group Burnout, then Employees might begin to have more Energy, which would open the door to more Sages.

Until then though, these Leaders are stuck with Masters... at best.

Now, the Energy is important, but not for the sake of itself.

Having a lot of Energy (Mg-ATP) does not automatically make you ready to be a Sage, it is just a prerequisite.

Really, to get to the Psychophysiological point where Innovation is possible, you have to get to Flow States.

See, Flow is where Humans Perform at their best.

In Flow, we are more Productive, Innovative, Creative, and able to Solve Problems.

This is where a Sage must get to if they hope to stay a Sage.

But, to even have a chance to get here you cannot be in Survival Mode, and you need a lot of Energy (Mg-ATP) because Flow burns through it quickly.

If you are in Survival Mode or you don't have enough Energy, you literally become Blocked from Flow.

The final component for being a Sage though is overcoming a specific gap while in Flow State.

See, the major differentiator once you meet these prerequisites is that the Sage has Ceaseless Consistency, while the Master has Pausing Perfection.

For the Master, the Goal is to have a Perfection in what they do and it is (nearly) possible because Mastery revolves around something that already exists.

When it exists, you can continue to do small things to make it closer and closer to Perfection.

But this search for Perfection also causes Pause to Innovation.

You can't hit Perfection on something that is completely unknown, and the unknown is the only place that Innovation exists.

There are too many variables that you can't Control in the unknown, which causes Analysis Paralysis in our Brains and forces us to Pause.

The more you try to Perfect that which is Unknown, the more you realize that you can't do it.

This causes the Master to revert to what they know works, what they know they can do to (near) Perfection.

But the Sage approaches things different.

They have Ceaseless Consistency.

What are they Ceaselessly Consistent with?

Flow driven Innovation.

See, the Sage pursues the Flow State Ceaselessly.

The Best Sages will get into a Flow State multiple times per day, in multiple aspects of their lives.

This allows them to see the world in a completely different way than the Master, which opens up the Potential for Innovation.

But it goes further because the Sage is more concerned with Consistency than they are with Perfection.

The Sage understands that when you dive into that which is unknown, it is inevitable that you will Fail.

It is not a matter of If, it is a matter of When.

If you Goal is Perfection, then you begin to Fear that Failure.

That Fear becomes a Survival Trigger which prevents Flow, causing the Master to turn away.

But when the Goal is Consistency, Task Failure is a Non-Factor.

Task Failure doesn't exist in the Consistency Game.

The only Failure in the Consistency Game is whether you tried at the Task today or not.

This simple but potent Psychological Shift opens up possibilities that a Master would never even think to consider - it would be a Heresy to Perfection.

The Sage however doesn't follow the same rules as the Master.

This is how the Sage begins to take leaps and bounds while the Master becomes stagnant.

The only trap that the Sage has after this is that of discovering the next Innovation and thinking that "this" Innovation is the End.

When a Sage believes that one of their Innovations is the End, they begin to revert to Perfecting it, which blocks them from Future Innovations.

Over time, as they Perfect it, other Masters begin to learn this "Innovative" thing, and once enough Masters understand, it is no longer "Innovative".

The Sage then reverts to a Master because they have gone back to a Pausing Perfection.

So the Sage must always be Ceaselessly Consistent in the path toward Innovation.

If they begin to lose Flow States, they will lose the Ceaseless Consistency.

If they do not have enough Energy (Mg-ATP), they will lose the Ceaseless Consistency.

These three the Sage must have: Energy (Mg-ATP), Flow States, and Ceaseless Consistency.

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How The Sage Innovates, And Why It Leaves The Masters Behind

Subtle Yet Powerful Differentiators

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