#179 Intellectual understanding vs Internalized knowledge

ByLukas
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Intellectually understanding that the perfect speech includes a strong opening, humor, a dramatic demonstration, rhetorical elements, and emotional appeal doesn’t mean your next speech will contain those elements right away – and that’s okay.

You don’t have to master this today.

Intellectually understanding the nuances and body positioning of a yoga pose doesn’t mean the next time you stand in that pose, you’ll perform it perfectly right away – and that’s okay.

You don’t have to master this today.

Intellectually understanding verbs, tenses, or case systems in a foreign language doesn’t mean you’ll be able to use them correctly in conversations right away – and that’s okay.

You don’t have to master this today.

Turning intellectual understanding into internalized knowledge and skill is a slow, layered process:

  1. Intellectually understand which things to do differently from before.
  2. Mindfully become aware of the moment when you need to do things differently.
  3. Do things differently from before.
  4. Repeat every day.

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    #217 Inaction is not the lack of action

    ByLukas

    If I don’t write the post I intended to write, I actively avoid the desired result of my writing.

    If I don’t do the workout I intended to do, I actively avoid the desired result of my workout (being in better shape, running a new PR,…)

    If I don’t have the difficult conversation I intended to have, I actively avoid the desired result of that conversation.

    Inaction is not the lack of action.

    Inaction is taking active action to avoid working towards the result you desire.

    The real question, then, is:

    Why do I actively avoid working toward a desired result?

    Am I worried that even if I write daily, I’ll never become a skilled writer?

    Am I worried I won’t enjoy writing anymore if I ever get recognition?

    Am I worried that writing every day will turn me into a skilled writer, but being a professional writer won’t be fulfilling?

    P.S. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I only have a limited repertoire of examples in this newsletter, my friend

    I trust you to apply the insight to your situation.

    And maybe, when you’re pondering the question above, you’ll come to the same conclusion as me:

    That more often than not, I’m more interested in the comfort of “wanting” something I don’t have than in “taking action to get something.”

  • #400 3 lessons from 400 consecutive days of writing (and a request)

    ByLukas

    Today marks day 400 of the Daily Insight newsletter – which calls for a longer post and a question for you.

    Let’s start with three lessons I learned from publishing daily.

    Lesson 1: Writing when not you’re not inspired IS the point

    I wasn’t inspired every day in the past 400 days – but many days I was.

    And I wouldn’t have had the inspiring days without the uninspired days.

    Maybe writing when you’re not inspired is the whole point.

    Because showing up for the bad moments makes it possible to be there for the good moments, too.

    Lesson 2: You don’t have to be ready to get started – you get started to become ready

    In the past, I just couldn’t get myself to write, not even if I really wanted to.

    Now, I just write.

    Doing something new always goes against your current beliefs and always comes with resistance – otherwise, you would already be doing it.

    But seeing how tiny daily actions can normalize a behavior that in the past seemed unattainable was incredibly empowering.

    You don’t have to be ready to get started. You get started to become ready.

    Lesson 3: It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it’s meaningful to you

    For the longest time, I felt like I always gave up on things that were important to me. I just couldn’t persevere.

    So, I chose to start writing daily. But I could’ve also decided to run every day. Or knit.

    In the end, the activity itself doesn’t matter. You can choose any desire you feel resistance towards…

    And start using it as a symbol of your defiance against your limiting beliefs.

    In its essence, such “Tiny Trust Builder” actions, as I came to call them, are symbolic.

    Pick one. Attach meaning to it. Use it to prove to yourself that your aspirations are not just pipe dreams. And see how your life changes.

    What’s next?

    Maybe it didn’t have to take 400 days to prove to myself that I could write every day – or maybe it did.

    Either way, I did it. And now the question arises: what’s next?

    To answer that question, I need your help.

    Why are you subscribed to this newsletter? What do you get out of it?

    Could I do anything to make the newsletter more interesting to you?

    Let me know by replying to this email so we can shape the next 400 newsletters together.

    Thanks for being along for the journey!

    • Lukas

  • #154 When results have become irrelevant

    ByLukas

    When technology and AI outpace us and we can’t be the best, smartest, fastest, strongest on the planet anymore – will we still care about our economic output?

    When results have become irrelevant, what are the things I will still want to do?

    Maybe we’ll rediscover value in our actions themselves and the pleasure and pain they make us feel – happy, sad, useful, worthless, brimming with purpose, overflowing with self-hatred…?

    Will I still write just because I enjoy writing, even if AI could write a better-researched, more insightful book than I ever could?

    Will I still learn a language just because learning a language makes me feel good, even if I could use an instant translation device to talk to anyone in the world?

    Will I still spend my days in an office cubicle if that’s a painful prospect?

    An era of soul-searching is coming.

  • |

    #11 fixing a flawed faux finish

    ByLukas

    when the cracks in my faux finish
    finally appear
    my mind screams out
    you’re coming too near

    yet i resist the need to hide
    lean in to the fear
    let the cracks grow wide
    because after all these years
    slowly steadily submerged under layers of snow
    frozen frightened i don’t know where else to go

    i feel i’m sliding back into my head
    but you don’t let me
    instead
    you keep me here
    make even more light appear
    look at the fear
    until the icy flawed frozen faux finish finally fully melts away
    into a trembling torrent of tears

    and through the sobs
    subtle shining light teardrops
    mix mingle mend my mind
    my heart my soul a warmth so kind

    you guide my gaze and through the tears
    in my eyes a rainbow appears
    eclipsing the fear
    making it clear
    that when I dare to feel complete
    allow your heart and mine to meet

    i finally remember
    that I’m enough
    i’ve always been

    and at last
    i can be seen

    Lukas Van Vyve
  • |

    #102 When dreams turn into certainties

    ByLukas

    Elon Musk has the rock-solid belief that someday, he’s going to put people on Mars. He doesn’t hope for it. He believes it’s inevitable.

    Whether his belief becomes a reality or not is irrelevant. What matters are the actions and grit his faith inspires in him and everyone working with him.

    That’s the rock-solid determination extraordinary feats are built on.

    But you don’t have to dream of interplanetary travel to reach stellar levels of determination.

    What would you do if writing a new book isn’t just optional or desirable but inevitable?

    What would you do if mastering an instrument isn’t just possible but inescapable?

    What happens when, in your mind, you turn a dream into a certainty?

    How does that change your actions? Mindset? Beliefs? Feelings?

    How much easier does it become to persevere?

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