#140 I don’t have to be good at this today.

ByLukas
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Trying to become good fast makes you impatient. And impatience may well stop you from ever becoming good in the first place.

Because the only way to become good is by understanding that in today’s practice session, you likely won’t be perfect anyway.

That you likely won’t write your most insightful words.

That you likely won’t run an all-time best.

That you’ll likely spend a large part of your yoga session stumbling and losing balance.

When you go into your practice session with that mindset…

Suddenly it makes sense to focus hard on getting that one sentence right.

Now it makes sense to focus on rhythmic breathing while running instead of pushing for a better time.

Now it makes sense to focus on a tiny part of your body during an entire yoga session to train your awareness instead of trying to chase poses because “they look professional.”

Even if there is not much time to “become good,” it still makes sense to assume there is time.

Because that gives you the freedom to focus on the small adjustments that prepare you for when the time comes, and you truly need to perform.

Since I’m always practicing anyway, I don’t have to be good at this today.

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  • #462 Feel the resistance and move forward anyway

    ByLukas

    There’s no need to get rid of excuses or resistance, because there’s no need to listen to the excuses and the resistance in the first place.

    They only have power when you give them power.

    And the less power you give them, the easier life becomes.

    So make up the excuses, then move forward anyway..

    Feel the resistance, then move forward anyway.

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    #34 Where else?

    ByLukas

    Regularly asking “Where else?” is one of the simplest ways to become more creative and generate innovative insights.

    Not only does this allow you to connect new insights with existing knowledge and experience, but it also invites you to imagine new use cases.

    • “Where else have I seen this (or something similar) before?”
    • “Where else does this apply (to my current knowledge)?”
    • “Where else might this apply (in contexts where I haven’t discovered it yet)?”

    Examples

    Harvard Medical School professor Herbert Benson suggests the neurotransmitter NO (Nitric Oxide) may be the catalyst for breakthroughs and “aha moments.”
    Where else have I seen this before? -> Pranayama/Yogic Breathing: Nasal breathing (and humming “om”) can increase nitric oxide production fifteen-fold. Humming your way to epiphanies might be worth a try.

    Learning a language by grouping words instead of reducing it to words and grammar. Where else does this apply? -> Conversation Based Chunking; learning series of digits by grouping them together;… See: chunking concept in cognitive psychology

    Uber made it possible for people to share/rent out their car.
    Where else might this apply? -> How about sharing/renting out your home? That’s how AirBnB was born.

    You don’t have to look elsewhere.
    See what’s already there, then ask…
    Where else?

  • #27 Appreciating the meaningless melody of a foreign language

    ByLukas

    Learning a foreign language is both a frustrating and liberating experience.

    We can focus on the frustration of not understanding the words the way we understand our mother tongue. Or we can realize that without the words, we are free to fall back on other ways of capturing and understanding meaning.

    A crying baby can be soothed by words it does not yet understand, because she senses what’s behind the sounds, lets the meaningless melody cradle her to sleep…

    Similarly, we don’t always have to know what’s behind the words, as long as we make an effort to understand the meaning behind the sounds.

    Hearing a foreign language brings us back to that wordless world the way we experienced it as a newborn, before we tried so hard to put everything within and around us into language.

    It makes us remember, there’s more to life than our words will ever allow us to express. And somehow, that’s a soothing thought.

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    #290 Your unique contribution

    ByLukas

    What do you see that others don’t even notice?

    What do you feel that others don’t even seem to care about?

    What do you like to do that most others never even entertain?

    What do you write about that most others haven’t even considered?

    And instead of seeing such differences as a societal warning sign, discouraging you from pursuing it…

    Can you see them as an encouraging sign of unique contributions you’re about to make?

    Embrace your individuality.

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