It is astonishing how hard it is to be excellent at something. World Class - no chance.
If you are anything like me, you have a knack for getting pretty good at stuff quite quickly. For me the difficulty of persevering with ONE thing, to strive to reach its upper echelons of skill, has always been trumped by the alternative ease of moving on to the new thing. Novelty induced, dopamine laced, endorphins have thus far proved too seductive to rebuff.
It’s an insight that makes This Year No Fear (TYNF) tick. This entire experiment goes against the psychologically enmeshed stereotypical tendencies anyone like me is prone to. It’s actually quite well encapsulated by the HEDGEHOG concept which divides people into two groups - foxes and hedgehogs. Foxes pursue a number of goals, interests, passions and activities simultaneously. This can result in scattered, unfocused thinking from which very little is achieved. Comparatively, Hedgehogs have a single focus predicated on a simplified version of the world, this laser focused vision is often achieved.
And in the struggle to unleash my inner hedgehog the goal is unyielding. Strive to reach the next level by putting hours, days, weeks and months into these arbitrary goals which for any number of reasons are personally inspirational. The value of engendering this evolution, specially for those preternaturally disposed to such proclivities, is immense.
A character flaw TYNF plays on intrinsically is a distaste for having things unfinished, hanging over me. Make the decision to say you are going to do something, it hangs round the neck like an anchor, a millstone: cumbersome in its corpulence until it is done. What you notice as a child is that this initially is not the case, your word is not your bond, a pinky promise is only good so long as your fingers aren’t crossed behind your back. Yet as we strive in the pursuit of integrity, this ceases to be the case.
So, review. After a first six months now (writing this in July 2020), it’s clear a different strategy is going to be necessary to achieve the goals set out in Jan 2020. A quote below really epitomises my thinking here, it’s from a hero: Mohamed El Shorbagy (on Competition)
“One of the things that excites me is opponents finding weakness in my game. It’s what makes me different. I always look to improve. Staying the same is going backwards.”
Having shared TYNF with friends and family for feedback, and had a couple people take it on by making it their own - it’s clear that there are key weaknesses in my game.
First is a lack of enough rest baked into the routine. Second is the absence of coaching for some specific goals which are going to require much more precisely defined techniques for training. And finally, finding teammates / tribe members who can take on each individual journey alongside me. It makes the pursuit all the more doable! Otherwise it’s fair to say that motivation is nigh on impossible without both communion and a finish line to work towards.
Having had a month OFF (June) as of May 27th - July 8th, there is now a short six months to go till the first round of this challenge concludes.
Eliud Kipchoge: “Success comes with sacrifice. You sacrifice more, you get more success. You sacrifice little, you get little success.”
.jpeg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3D07603306-e5e8-4f00-9369-07e594af9c0b%26cache%3Dv2?width=1500&optimizer=image)
Cycle down to the Divers Cove with Ali
The Divers Cove
.jpeg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3Db605e6e6-f89d-47bd-986a-06e36227b5ab%26cache%3Dv2?width=1500&optimizer=image)
Footy with Baz
Rob Stag
.jpeg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3D1be52cbc-f4e1-4978-a60c-79124ee09f9f%26cache%3Dv2?width=1500&optimizer=image)
Two Months Duolingo Italian
