Increase Your Capability: Pick Something to Learn This Week
Our lives are defined by the things we do, not what we think.
Our actions are only limited by what we believe to be possible.
Therefore it is critical that we are always expanding our horizons in order to discover all the things that we could possibly be and do if we knew they were possible.
Now you can go and read wondrous stories of all the incredible feats that humans have done, but in let me do some of that for you:
- Bring Food and Aid to people in Need
- Ensure an Entire Country is Educated
- Land on the Moon
- Learn a foreign language
- Make a Homemade Helicopter
- Invent the Refrigerator
- Play the Mario Theme with a Remote Control car and Wine Bottles
- Make someone Smile Wholeheartedly
What is more important than reading is to push your own boundaries
It is nice to know what others have been capable of but it is more valuable to know that you are capable of anything.
Call it self-confidence, call it inner strength, call it anything you want as long as it entails something you can build in yourself.
When I started martial arts I had no idea about my ability, but I felt internally I could learn any physical skill. But really I couldn’t care I just wanted to learn. My first few weeks showed me how incapable I was of the task. Yet a few years later I’m still training and am the current Australian Iaido champion for my grade (aka beginner).
Starting my study of Japanese was (and is) equally daunting. It is like sitting in a room as a baby understanding nothing, a shock to the system of anyone who thinks themselves an accomplished individual. Eight months later and when I go to do something that would involve saying ‘excuse me’ I have to discard a few japanese equivalents before I remember the english words.
Last week I decided to only drink water as an experiment to see what it was like not drinking soft drink. Now I know for sure that when my mind says that soft drink would go down really now that water can go down equally well.
Try something new.
No matter how small or large, experiment.
After you have be doing this for awhile you will start to develop an attitude of always being able to try.
Then one day you may come to realise that all human achievements and successes are simply due to time and effort, nothing else.
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August 11th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I like your slider scale approach to experiments.
One of my best experiments was living foods for a month. It was pretty extreme, but I figure I could use a tune up at least one month out of the year. This was the longest I ever went without soda, and I’m a hard core Diet Do fan. Water is one of my enemies. One of the practices I carried forward though is I now balance my soda drinking with at least 6 glasses of water. It’s a Yin-Yang deal.
I typically test something using what I call Monthly Improvement Sprints (or 30 Day Improvement Sprints.) I like using a month, because it let’s me cycle through 12 things and because it gives me a clean start and stop (and I can always repeat something.) When I tried learning things for a week, what I found was I wasn’t giving myself enough chance to get over learning humps, so I wasn’t getting my real breakthroughs. Doing a monthly focus on something also helps me shelve things since I know I can pick them up later during a sprint.
It’s great you point out the mindset. We really limit or enable ourselves based on what we think our capacities are.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
@J.D.Meier: Your approach sounds very similar to a software development methodology I know (Scrum)
.
I’m very casual with my experiments, preferring to stop and start them when I feel I’ve gotten enough out of them. However if you are casual like this you have to be very wary of thoughts that want the premature ending of an experiment. Enforcing 30 day cycles like you do helps avoid that and also allows you sufficient reflection time.
August 12th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Hi Jarrod – There is a lot of possibility in our lives, but if we don’t try to access that possibility we can’t bring it into reality. You’re right – everything starts with trying (and discomfort), but without giving it a shot we’ll never know how far we can go.
August 13th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Trying something new for the week or a day can really change a persons perspective on things. Taking time out to do something out of the ordinary is an activity we take for granted. For us to live life to the fullest we must take risk and stretch our comfort zone!
“With out growth, there is NO progress”
August 15th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
@Amanda: That discomfort you mention is so critical to see. If you don’t catch it in the moment before you decide to take action it can paralise you and slay your intentions. Awareness is so important.
@Johnathan: Right stretching the comfort zone. It takes a shock to the mind to get started, whether you provide it yourself or it is ignited by another.
August 16th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Jarrod,
Why do you think so many people chose to stay comfortable all day instead of trying to be more than what they are? Do you think its really that difficult to make a positive change in ones life?
August 16th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
@Johnathan: I don’t really think that people consciously ‘choose’ not to do other things. But rather the subconscious elements convincing them otherwise.
Creating positive change is only hard because it is not something society talks about on a day to day basis. In the cities we are bombarded with materialistic desires and the vast majority appear to enjoy it so it has become what is normal.
I have friends who just enjoy watching the games, hanging out with mates and partying. They are not going out to hurt other people so I cannot say they are doing anything wrong, but they are not doing much to change the situation.
What I write here is to try and help those who already want change but have trouble finding out how to do it and the courage to act.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:42 am
JArrod,
thanks for such a through explanation on what your articles represent. Much appreciated.