The way of the master – part 2

For one seeking to attain mastery of his craft, sport, or endeavor, there are no ordinary moments. Everything is always on the line. By behaving this way, the practice is elevated, which is what he knows will make him a master.

Your practice; what you do when it’s not gametime, showtime, test time, and nobody else is around, matters.

The way of the master – part 1

For the master, the attainment of a goal is not the reason, nor the prize. It is the practice. The day in and day out practice and effort to use peak performance and experience as a baseline for tomorrow’s practice. 

"Forest Therapy"

I read about a therapist who takes her clients for a walk in the woods to help them reduce anxiety and stress. (She says she hopes that forest therapy will be covered by health insurance one day! Hard to make this stuff up!) Anyway…I was reading a great book called “The Art of Learning” about recovery time. High performance people have to reset and recover – to shut down and “re-create.” For example, he wrote about Michael Jordan sitting on the bench for two minutes in perfect serenity while his team was out there struggling and needing him. 

Recovering and getting away from our work is important so when we go at it again we are fresh.  I often do this with some “forest therapy” (I never call it that!) of my own. I go running in the woods, or clear downed/leaning trees or move stones around, building walls etc.  I’m on my own in nature, and it’s hard to think about my “work life,” at least in the same perspective as I thought about it when I was at work.

It’s no secret that getting outside is good for us.  It’s where we humans spent the most time not too long ago, and it’s a great way to get in touch with the native pulse of life, and wash off the artificial one.  

Gardening, beach, walking, hiking, farming, yard work, sports…

What do you do to mentally or physically “recover and regenerate”?

What's at your boundaries?

We can live inside our abilities and talents – but where do we define those boundaries? They are lines we have drawn in our minds, but are they real? 

No. They are not. The only way we can find out, is by pushing ourselves to those boundaries and finding out where the “fence” is – and then moving it farther out.

What self-imposed limits have you been living in?

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Character is your foundation

Character – the origins of the word mean “a mark left by a chisel.”  It’s your foundation.  Without it, you can’t do much, because your progress in this world depends upon you interacting successfully with other people.  And without character, they won’t want to do that.

Keep your word. Be trustworthy. Be kind. Be loyal. Be helpful, courteous, cheerful, brave and clean.

How is your character?  It never goes out of style.

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Why am I doing this again?

In a book called “The Devil’s Dictionary” it says that fanaticism is “redoubling your efforts long after your aim has been forgotten.”

So before we consider what we can do to be more productive, let’s make sure we are going in the right direction.

What are you trying to do? Where do you want to end up? What would it look like?

Then ask “Is what you are doing taking you closer to your ideal situation or goal?”

No sense in going faster if we are going in the wrong direction – right?

So long as you are going in the right direction, then you can think about how to be more productive and get there faster each day.

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Are you in control of your life?

We are happy to the degree we are in control of our lives and the sequence of things that happen to us – an “internal locus of control”.

We are not happy to the degree we feel we are not in control of our lives – when we feel others or external circumstances are in control – an “external locus of control”.

How do you feel about your life – are you in control? 

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Paradoxes of life

Many books and good ideas conflict with each other. 

Stay with it and don’t quit, but don’t spend your life doing things you don’t like.  Work hard, but don’t work too much.  Save your money,  have fun.  Save the world, but only try to control the controllables. 

What’s true?   You have to choose.  There is no right or wrong.  It’s either useful of not useful to your current goals. 

Follow what is important to you.

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The top 5%

If you want to be in the top 5%, by definition, you have to turn away from what the bottom 95% do.  That makes sense, right?

What you pay attention to, how you spend your time, what you value, and your habits – they will all buck popular trends and seem foreign and strange to the majority.  

If you want to be like everyone else, do what they do.  If you don’t, don’t.

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We become what we think about, even if we don't want it.

Whatever we focus on we tend to move towards and become.  Keeping your major goal in mind every day and taking action on it is important.  But if we are thinking about what we DON’T want to happen, what we want to avoid, we will move in that direction also.  

A tightrope walker never looks down.  A race car driver never looks at the wall.  You should not be thinking about failure, and what if bad things happen, and envisioning them.  Think about what you want to happen, the outcome you desire, and keep your mind OFF of what you don’t want to happen.

What do you want to happen?

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