- There are two main strategies we can adopt to improve the quality of life. The first is to try making external conditions match our goals. The second is to change how we experience external conditions to make them fit our goals better.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, 1990I hate training….Let me say it again…I hate training for anything, but I don’t mind PRACTICE.As soon as someone says, “Let’s train for something,” I just shut down. Training sounds like WORK to me. I prefer PRACTICE. In my mind, practice translates into something different. I means that I get to do something over and over again until I get it right. I get lots of times to make mistakes and correct them. I like that. I can readjust, tweak and keep on going. Sounds good to me.Whether you read Outliers by Gladwell or Ericsson’s original study, you may or may not be familiar with the 10,000 hour rule. According to Ericsson, one needs 10,000 hours or 10 yrs of deliberate practice to become an expert in a field of study or to master an instrument. This makes sense. If you do something over and over again with increasing levels of difficulty; you will improve.TranslationBasically, we get good at what we do everyday. If we quit everyday; then we become experts in quitting. If we practice good habits on a daily basis; over time we become good at it. If we smile everyday or 10,000 hours or 10 yrs; we will get better at it. I guess I’d rather practice running, jumping, biking, smiling, etc. than training. I guess we should not be surprised when we see Olympic athletes or virtuosos. They are good at what they do because they have had LOTS of practice. I may never be an elite athlete, but I can practice at being the best ME. I do believe that practice makes perfect. I guess we just have to be careful what we practice.~Stayfitt
Today I must admit was an extra-ordinary day. I had the opportunity to do something I had never done before. I completed 2 endurance events back to back. I participated in the Maryland Sprint duathlon on Saturday and Olympic Distance on Sunday. This consisted of 39 miles of cycling uphill and 10 miles of running in back to back within 24 hours. For a few, this seemed like a walk in a park. See these events bring out the most talent athletes around. They look fast and have fancy bikes. I signed up for this race because a buddy asked me to do so. There I was. No fancy shoes. A bike that is 11 years old. No fancy outfit. NOTHING. I just said to myself, " Oh well, you defined what you want to get out of this." Oh course, I was totally intimidated by all the racers. I had not planned on doing this event. The course is very tough. I have not trained for much in the past few months, but exercise regularly for sanity. All I could do is ...
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