After the horrific cool-down following hurricane Sandy, there seemed to be a dry spell for fish along the pier. I took my excellent energy and focus and applied it to studying for the GREs and physical fitness. Sitting down to study for the GREs is not unlike sitting down to fish on the pier. It takes mental preparation, and tremendous focus to sit down and apply yourself to relearning high school math. Distraction control is key to studying like a champion. I took initiative and put myself in a place where distractions are not possible. I studied primarily in the basement of my VFW Post. More recently, I was able to apply psychology of optimal performance to physical performance. I joined a cross-fit gym 3 weeks ago, and had to learn olympic lifts and gymnastic movements that I have never done before. I found myself struggling with the snatch and clean lifts. These movements are complex, compound progressions that culminate in a system of leverage and muscle movement that allows an individual lift more than 60% of what they would normally be able to lift over their head. I failed consistently to attain the proper form for the snatch. I found myself picking up the bar over and over again trying to quickly repeat the movement until I got it right, only to make the same mistakes over and over again. That is when I remembered that the psychology of optimal performance, as talked about in the book, applies exceptionally well to physical performance. The first thing I did to correct my lift was take a deep breath. Then instead of completing the whole movement, I focused on visualizing myself doing a small part of the movement correctly. Deep breath, visualize a perfect dead-lift over my knees. Conduct the dead lift. Lift my heels, pop my hips forward, and do carefully executed upward row with the bar. The upward row was the most difficult part, and I was able to perform it perfectly only after visualizing my body movement prior to EACH lift, and only following a deep breath prior to the dead lift. After the dead lift, upward row, and elevation of the hips, the body is actually in a jump, with the weight being carried with upward momentum while the elbows word to lock out with the bar over the head, and the body entirely, perfectly straight under the bar. The transition from the row to the lift of the bar over the head is spontaneous. I found that the only way for me to do it properly is distraction control. The distraction being everything that I did prior to the movement, including the steps of the movement itself. I had to forget everything I did prior to the jump with the weight, and just land the perfect snatch. Learning from juggling, I did not get too ambitious. I started with a PVC pipe, then with a bar without any weight on it (still 45 lb), and then added 10s on each side. Next time I do snatches, I will start from scratch. As if juggling with one ball, then two, then three. I am already mentally prepared to do more work on my olympic lifts. Thanks to psychology of optimal performance I can systematically improve performance in tasks that either struggle with, or have never done before. I am only now starting to realize that the best way to get good at something is to focus on one thing at a time, and in order to focus on one thing at a time, you have to do it over and over again, and nothing stops you from doing something over and over again like negative self talk. I became so persistent at accomplishing perfect form with the snatch , split jerk, and other lifts that trainers had to tell me to take a chill pill and continue another day. I am simply more tenacious now than I ever was, and this is the biggest benefit that I have acquired from this entire course on psychology of excellent performance.
Throughout this past semester I had acquired a hobby that was unlike anything I had done before, Bola spinning and juggling. The activity which I chose is an activity which helps the individual on and internal scale (focus on one’s self’s internal emotional state) and an external scale (improvements in reaction time, eye had coordination and body position/orientation). The act of spinning a bola is narrow in that the bola is a specific device that is wielded in a specific manor. The concepts which are incorporated into the act of spinning has broad and extensive applications in the real world. Once I understood the flow of circular motion I finally understood the quote, “Fight the enemy where they aren’t” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War. I realized that I shouldn’t reach for where the item is falling at now but reach where the item will be falling to. This activity was intended to assist in learning where and how to orient my body in space without direct eye contact or with only glimpsing at a passing weight. The initial drive was so I would be able to dodge, catch, or block oncoming flying objects or dropped items with ease. Initially I was relatively uncoordinated and was not great at dodging, catching, or blocking anything. I remember sitting and watching countless items (keys, papers, pens and pencils) as they started to roll from my desk. I remember saying to myself, “if only you could, but you can’t.” and the object would float or crash to the floor. Often when I would make for the grab I would be a foot or two off the mark or way to slow to make it to the object. This is where the first part of the wheel that I focused on comes into effect. I instituted a plan of meditation for 2 hours with an hour of bola spinning. Later on in the semester I moved one hour and thirty minutes from passive (sitting) meditation to active (tai chi) meditation to practice circular flow of motion. The meditation time was to work on Mental Readiness, Positive Imagery, and Distraction Control. The spinning (practice time) was used to build experience (confidence) with the newly acquired device. The Wheel of Excellence consists of 7 elements. Six of the seven elements need to be worked on more by some individuals than others, but the common element that the other six stem from is Focus. I started with the element of Mental Readiness. Mental readiness to me means having no doubts about one’s self, one’s abilities, and the outcome. I had to steady my own mind before I could steady my movements. I had to reevaluate who I was and what I wanted to achieve. I had to unconditionally believe that my planed outcome would come to pass and it would be brought about by my work. I had to accept the fact that I had one hand and accept that this would make the experience a challenge do to pain as a distraction. This was taken care of at first with mental imaging (the arm was fine moving normally), positive self-talk (“My arm is relaxed, fine and feels good”), meditation with a focus on relaxing. Over time the pain turned into a tolerable discomfort. In order to achieve the complete mental readiness which I desired I had to initiate and practice Positive imaging. At first the positive imaging was changing my self-talk. Instead of saying “I could not,” I started to tell myself “I want to.” I found that commanding myself from an (external perspective) to follow an order or direction was met by a lot of resistance and obstacles (images of failure and the resulting anxiety from that failure) which added to any situational inhibitions. When I placed personal wants, and drives where the thoughts of failure had been the actions I wanted to perform became more enjoyable and more interesting. To prevent future self-talk I committed to accepting the negatives and reviewing the positives.
In order to train my eye hand coordination, reflexes, and orientation within space, I started by spinning, a Bola. This device is used mostly for roping small game but I have constructed one from juggle balls, and nylon stockings (tights). At first I had used gravel to form the weighted ends with added some negative imagery and a substantial distraction (weights flying around my body). Having been mentally ready for the immediate failures I did not allow the negative experience to instill a lack of confidence in my ability. In order to keep mental readiness and to prevent from bringing bad luggage from one instance to the next was to treat each mess up or distraction as an opportunity for my refocusing plan; take care of, sort out any distractions, accept the negatives, reflect on the positives, rest the muscles, clear the head and get some water before going back to work. Also, it helped to be able to experience each new start at spinning as a distinctly separate event, not influenced by past spins. For the first half of the semester I was no pro at keeping my mental readiness, nor was I great at meditating but over time the ability to control the imagery and prevent negative self-talk evolved. Positive imaging was a large help at this point as well. The class and the book both talk about utilizing multiple senses in order to experience a situation mentally (with substance). This imaging did not consist of snap shots but an extended experience. During the Meditation phase of practice I implemented, the “five sense imagery,” in order to visualize and plan what was going to take place during the physical practice. (I could smell the smoke of burning candles brought forth from the spinning arms of the bola. I could see the balls as the pass by; feel the strain of the extending weights as my fingers move to bring them back around.) My largest problem at the time was my lack of understanding of circular flows of motion. It was during the meditation period, after a few weeks, that I noticed bola spinning to be a lot like group jump rope (find the right time and jump). Jumping rope requires 3 people who mesh with the situation. I had to mesh with the flow of the bola. At this point I needed to go to the Zen chapter. To mesh with the bola I needed to be in the present, not the past or the future. I needed to try and discover an absolute connection to what I was doing. I had to let go of my pictured and planned routine (labeling it as one of many possibilities as not to interfere with my picture of the now). I had to forget about what was going to happen to me when that bag came flying at me. I had to not think. I had to feel. Sight for this exercise I found to be the biggest obstacle. As one only can perceive change that has been altered to an “nth” degree; I found my sight to be misleading. Using the senses which are constantly taking in stimuli I tried to connect to spinning. I was at first rigid and lost but I learned that being soft and flexible is about becoming part of the performance not being its conductor. Applying the knowledge from the book and from the lectures I was able to block, dodge, and catch about 60% of the items which are thrown at me or which have slipped from my grasp. Most of the time I am able to get a hand on the falling item before it hits the ground but there is still work to be done. The time I take each day to practice has become an important habit of my day. It relieves pent up energy and emotion in a productive and controlled manor. I have utilized most of the wheel of excellence to improve my studies and to reevaluate interpersonal relationships. As I formed a relationship with the Bola there was never and will never be a point where I feel like I have stopped learning.
My external goal was to become excellent at practicing mindfulness. I chose this goal because last year my mentor introduced me to the concept of mindfulness. I started to read more about practicing mindfulness and I started changing my perspective on life. When this class began, I knew this would be a perfect time to change my behaviors and my mindset in my life. It was very discouraging at first because taking on this task was much larger and more difficult than I initially anticipated. I had no quantitative way of determining if I was on track for reaching my goals. I had way to high aspirations of when I first begun. I checked in with my mentor a few times when I felt like I hit a road bump on my path to excellence. My goals were far to abstract and undefined. Professor Gayton asked me one day in class, “If a Martian landed in earth, what would you say to explain what mindfulness is?” and I had the hardest time trying to describe what mindfulness and being mindful actually is. But through the exercises that we did in class, with the combined reading of my mindfulness book and Orlick's book on achieving excellence, I was able to set more realistic goals for ascertaining my objective. One of the most beneficial days in class was when we went over how to set goals that were more tangible, more likely to be reached. I spent the whole class trying to think how can I actually meet my goals? After listening to how everyone else in the class was going to change their goal and make it more realistic, I was able to say, I’m going to meditate every day for at least one hour. By doing this I would know daily if I reached my goal or not. If I missed my goals, I would have to make up for that loss on the next day. I also set a goal that every other day I will listen to my instructional mindfulness CD right before bed. My mindfulness CD has exercises very similar to the autogenic training CD we used in class. My CD includes, body scans, breathing exercises, meditative yoga, and then peaceful music to listen to when meditating. By having these goals, I was able notice a significant improvement in my behavior in a very short time. I was no longer upset and stressed out about not understanding my own goals. I knew what I needed to do, and what I needed to accomplish. Being mindful is changing your life perspective on being aware of the present. In my mindfulness book I really liked the short example of what mindfulness is. In any situation there are two perspectives, Perspective A and perspective B. In any situation, even though both A and B have the same experience, they may have been perceived entirely different. Mindfulness is described as a camera observing both A and B. It really simplified how to understand what being present truly is. It’s standing in a situation free of bias and observing what is actually happening. From Orlick's book many chapters really applied and resonated with my goals. The most useful chapters from Orlick's book were Chapter 11: Zen Experiences, and Chapter 12: Perspectives. These chapters resonated so well with me because these are the themes I've picked up from my mindfulness book. The Zen experience was very useful because this is the basis of being Mindful. The Zen chapter in Orlick's book says, "If you begin to reflect, deliberate, question, condemn, or judge along the way, you lose the pure connection or become disconnected, apart from, separate, tentative, distracted." This ties directly into what I was talking about with the A and B perspectives of mindfulness. Zen, along with Mindfulness is to let go of forcing things; letting go of outcomes and expectations. Perspectives from Orlick's book state that the key to getting closer to your potential is found in your ability to focus on a positive perspective, and to view your challenges in a more beneficial and constructive way. By shifting your perspective you can ease your worries and let go of trying to control a certain situation and letting yourself view yourself separate from the situation.
(cont'd) Toward the last part of this semester, I felt like I was meeting my goals and doing very well. So I decided to add another goal for myself. This goal was to integrate learning more about mindfulness by talking about and practicing it with other people. I thought that by being able to work with other people and talk about ideas of mindfulness it would benefit me greatly with my overall goals, and it has! I’ve been working with one of my friends with a mindfulness workbook that I have, and every week we set specific goals. And we meet once a week and dedicate time to talk about our experiences and what we have encountered. I’ve found myself learning so much more than when I was doing this alone.
My excellence activity this semester for outside the classroom was personal finance management. On day one I assigned myself the concrete goal of saving $500 by December 15th. I still have four more days to go, but I don't need them—I reached my goal a few weeks ago, and now I have over $500 saved. Before this challenge began that goal was far off in the distance. I have never saved money before and just assumed I was “bad with money.” But by learning and applying the techniques for attaining excellence I reached my goal, boosted my confidence, and seriously improved my fiscal situation permanently.
I began by tracking my finances very strictly. I downloaded a program for my computer in which I recorded every penny of my income and spending and broke my spending down into categories which were presented in a pie chart. I had instant visual access to exactly what's going on with my money, which helped me stay focused. I also wrote and tracked progress of my goal on the big whiteboard above my desk so that I could look at it every day. I committed myself to recording my revenue every single day. The process of tracking everything was the biggest test of my commitment to this assignment. Never having taken control of my finances before, actually knowing how much money I was making and spending was foreign to me. It took a lot of discipline to stay committed and keep coming back every day.
Because I had always been out of control with money, I started this all out with pretty low confidence. I knew I had to get some in order to get excellent at managing my money. The only way to do this was to achieve minor goals. I realized I had to supplement my long-term goal with shorter, smaller goals, so I broke up the three months I had to make $500 into increments, and determined how much I had to save every two weeks in order to make the goal. However, I couldn't do that realistically until I had a picture of how much I could actually afford to save each week—so it was essential for me to start off with the tracking. In time, the tracking and the short-term savings goals became the foundation of my savings plan and a source of great confidence. After a month of continuous success, I knew that I would reach my goal on time. It wasn't even a question.
That isn't to say that this process wasn't painful at times. A big problem I encountered early on was that I simply wasn't making enough money. I had the opportunity to work more but I chose to work 20 hours a week or less, and I never thought much about it. I had to step back and think about why I wasn't working more. It became apparent that there were some unresolved emotional blocks that made me avoid picking up additional money-making shifts, and I would have to come to terms with them in order to advance my goal. This was an interesting twist because I ended up applying some of Orlick's principles to my job. For the first time ever I looked at waitressing as a performance in which I wanted to excel. To become mentally ready for work, I used a lot of positive imagery to see myself going to work and not having any conflicts with my coworkers. I imagined myself being confident and competent and brushing any negativity off as irrelevant to me and my goals. My confidence at work, I have to say, has actually improved quite a bit because of this. I started picking up as many shifts as I could and stayed focused at work, which brought in the money, and impressed my managers too. It's been a great experience.
I'd say it was about two months of work that turned me into a person who consistently tracked her finances, was saving money, and was making a lot of money while enjoying being at work. I was in a really good place but I knew that I had to keep progressing to become excellent. This project has introduced me to a whole entire world of finance that I never knew about. I researched the subject extensively and found so many avenues that I have to explore. The ongoing learning opportunities are endless. I've only touched on the surface, but some of the things I am pursuing are responsible ownership of a credit card; building credit; fixed-interest; the stock market (holy shit, hello world); compound interest; bonds and T-bills...and so much more. Actually, just yesterday I realized I had five extra cents in my savings account that I didn't put there. I was shocked when I realized I was gaining interest on my savings because I actually had money in my savings account for the first time. I've never been so excited about five cents before. Pathetic? No. Excellent? Definitely.
The other major issue I ran into was time. The workouts are about an hour and half and then I needed to plan meals. I already had a pretty full plate with school and teaching and construction work. So, I adjusted again by starting with just the change in diet. Thus, I had to lesson my goals. I had to figure out this aspect of the program first before I could go on with the workouts. I found that planning meals and eating well was difficult on its own, without the exercise.
I have kept with the diet/food plan and learned along the way how I needed to customize it for myself. I have not done that much of the exercise part of it, because I simply did not have the time. When I did exercise I was sore, but I did not feel overwhelmed by the program. I knew that if I was going to do this correctly, I was going to have to wait until my winter break. So, I have continued with the diet and I exercise once or twice a week. This is allowing for my body to get strong and not be overly taxed. When I begin to do the program every day, I’ll be able to handle it day to day much better than I would have if I went straight into it.
I learned quite a bit about myself throughout the semester with regard to the project. The first thing I learned is that I tend to overshoot. The book idea was not very realistic and even the change to the exercise program was just as difficult a task. I just had more desire to do the exercise program. I have lost some weight and feel better because of the way I have been eating. I also learned about true commitment and making the choices that need to be made to be successful. I had to rearrange rooms in my house to allow for space to exercise. I had a lot of fear of starting the project without completing it, but I had to change those cognitive pressures. I was not going to complete the program by the end of the semester, but I could begin to get in shape, lose a little weight, and learn to eat and purchase food in a way that I could afford and that would help me be successful I the exercise part of the program.
I began with the external goal of writing every day for an hour on the topic of Argentine tango. Eventually, my writings were to form a book. I soon realized after setting out on this goal that I had set the bar too high for myself. I teach Argentine tango, thus my knowledge of the subject suited me well in forming the ideas of the book. However, I’m not sure who I was writing the book for. The concepts that I was writing about worked very well in my private lessons, but they were far more difficult to teach in a group class. Thus, I realized that I still had much interest in writing the book, but that I needed to examine how to take a complex teaching and deliver it in a highly palatable and highly intimate way.
Week in and week out I tried to push through and write, but I lacked a cohesive vision for the book. I had plenty of ideas, but was not sure why someone would read the book. I needed a better overall vision with, I dare say, some marketable aim. After about a month I was convinced that I needed to change my external goal to something completely different. I knew that I could not proceed with the book at this time and that I need to use my time in private lessons to test a few ideas out. Thus, I did not feel that my efforts were a loss. I have a better understanding of the leg work I must do to look at other books on subjects that present like problems with regard to the writing.
My new external goal was to do an exercise program called P90X. It takes 90 days and involves major changes in diet and life style. I was going to have to invest in certain equipment and take a bit more time in planning meals. So, I got started by purchasing dumbbells, yoga mats, a pull-up bar, and a few other smaller pieces of equipment. Then I began to look at and understand how my diet would have to change. The diet part of the program proved to be very challenging. I eat very well already, so essentially I was increasing my protein intake and cutting down significantly on carbs and sugars. Planning meals for the day was time-consuming and it seemed like a tremendous amount of food. The meals also had to be fairly strategic with regard to the time I would eat them. Probably the most difficult aspect of this diet is that all my food comes from the farmer’s market. I spend very little time and money in supermarkets. So, there was quite an expense in eating this much protein when it all comes from the farmer’s market. I made adjustments and decided that some of it was going to have to some from the supermarket.
My outside goal was to raise my fitness level. And I recognize that this was a hastily chosen goal, and it is something that I always fall back on as something I need to work on but never do. My commitment to the task has always been something that is lacking and in need of improvement. Through this class I came to realize that while I noticed that I wasn’t committed to the task of improving my fitness level I didn’t notice or pay heed to the negative self-talk I was doing and I lack confidence in this area. So to work on this I tried to mix things up, to keep it interesting and fresh, by changing workouts often. My hope was that through this I could more easily stay committed to my task. And I focused on controlling my negative self-talk through the juggling. Juggling was a very engaging task for me, but also one that I really have come to enjoy, its calming now that there isn’t big pressure to perform, it is more of a fun little skill I now have. But it wasn’t always like that, I did get frustrated learning to juggle and I did have a lot of negative self-talk which I started to work on by contradicting what I was saying in my mind. Interestingly enough, one of the things I hate the most is being told that I can’t do something because I am not good enough or smart enough etc... But I never thought to handle my self-talk in that way until now. Now as I look at my negative self-talk, I can look at it, and defy it. It’s almost like if the task seems insurmountable, that makes me want to try all the more. In reference to juggling specifically this came into play when learning to juggle four balls. It was (and still is) very difficult to juggle four consistently, and at first I wanted to just stop, or to learn three ball tricks. But I got my heart set on four, and pushed through; practicing each part of the style of juggling leading up to the four ball juggle. Juggling also has become a relaxing task that has an almost Zen like state that comes along with it. It requires focus, but not on each individual ball, but more of everything that is happening concerning your juggling, like positioning, power, and aim. This focused calmness was helpful to work inside of. And it was also a source of ongoing learning, because it was something that even after I had gotten the hand of three ball juggling, I didn’t want to stop, I focused even more on learning new variations. I think what this class has taught me overall that I find the most important, is my priorities and what I enjoy. The fitness level task really didn’t mesh, though I did make some sustainable changes and they worked well (taking the stairs, walking to places more) they did not get me the results I wanted (or thought I wanted). What I really have learned is that where I am physically is good for me. I am happy where I am, and that beyond when my fitness level naturally rises (during the warmer months & tennis season), that I am not some couch bound person, it’s just I am not some huge body builder either. The other thing I have learned is what I enjoy. I really enjoy learning new skills, and abilities. Juggling was so much fun to learn it started me thinking about what I wanted to do in relation to that. And I really enjoy close up magic, and so my self-imposed task for the coming semester is to learn some magic tricks, something that I could walk up to someone on the street and perform and then walk away as if nothing happened. And hey, if my career choice doesn’t work out, with magic and juggling under my belt I am sure I’ll be a hit a birthday parties, or performances.
After the horrific cool-down following hurricane Sandy, there seemed to be a dry spell for fish along the pier. I took my excellent energy and focus and applied it to studying for the GREs and physical fitness. Sitting down to study for the GREs is not unlike sitting down to fish on the pier. It takes mental preparation, and tremendous focus to sit down and apply yourself to relearning high school math. Distraction control is key to studying like a champion. I took initiative and put myself in a place where distractions are not possible. I studied primarily in the basement of my VFW Post. More recently, I was able to apply psychology of optimal performance to physical performance. I joined a cross-fit gym 3 weeks ago, and had to learn olympic lifts and gymnastic movements that I have never done before. I found myself struggling with the snatch and clean lifts. These movements are complex, compound progressions that culminate in a system of leverage and muscle movement that allows an individual lift more than 60% of what they would normally be able to lift over their head. I failed consistently to attain the proper form for the snatch. I found myself picking up the bar over and over again trying to quickly repeat the movement until I got it right, only to make the same mistakes over and over again. That is when I remembered that the psychology of optimal performance, as talked about in the book, applies exceptionally well to physical performance. The first thing I did to correct my lift was take a deep breath. Then instead of completing the whole movement, I focused on visualizing myself doing a small part of the movement correctly. Deep breath, visualize a perfect dead-lift over my knees. Conduct the dead lift. Lift my heels, pop my hips forward, and do carefully executed upward row with the bar. The upward row was the most difficult part, and I was able to perform it perfectly only after visualizing my body movement prior to EACH lift, and only following a deep breath prior to the dead lift. After the dead lift, upward row, and elevation of the hips, the body is actually in a jump, with the weight being carried with upward momentum while the elbows word to lock out with the bar over the head, and the body entirely, perfectly straight under the bar. The transition from the row to the lift of the bar over the head is spontaneous. I found that the only way for me to do it properly is distraction control. The distraction being everything that I did prior to the movement, including the steps of the movement itself. I had to forget everything I did prior to the jump with the weight, and just land the perfect snatch. Learning from juggling, I did not get too ambitious. I started with a PVC pipe, then with a bar without any weight on it (still 45 lb), and then added 10s on each side. Next time I do snatches, I will start from scratch. As if juggling with one ball, then two, then three. I am already mentally prepared to do more work on my olympic lifts. Thanks to psychology of optimal performance I can systematically improve performance in tasks that either struggle with, or have never done before. I am only now starting to realize that the best way to get good at something is to focus on one thing at a time, and in order to focus on one thing at a time, you have to do it over and over again, and nothing stops you from doing something over and over again like negative self talk. I became so persistent at accomplishing perfect form with the snatch , split jerk, and other lifts that trainers had to tell me to take a chill pill and continue another day. I am simply more tenacious now than I ever was, and this is the biggest benefit that I have acquired from this entire course on psychology of excellent performance.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this past semester I had acquired a hobby that was unlike anything I had done before, Bola spinning and juggling. The activity which I chose is an activity which helps the individual on and internal scale (focus on one’s self’s internal emotional state) and an external scale (improvements in reaction time, eye had coordination and body position/orientation). The act of spinning a bola is narrow in that the bola is a specific device that is wielded in a specific manor. The concepts which are incorporated into the act of spinning has broad and extensive applications in the real world. Once I understood the flow of circular motion I finally understood the quote, “Fight the enemy where they aren’t” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War. I realized that I shouldn’t reach for where the item is falling at now but reach where the item will be falling to.
ReplyDeleteThis activity was intended to assist in learning where and how to orient my body in space without direct eye contact or with only glimpsing at a passing weight. The initial drive was so I would be able to dodge, catch, or block oncoming flying objects or dropped items with ease. Initially I was relatively uncoordinated and was not great at dodging, catching, or blocking anything. I remember sitting and watching countless items (keys, papers, pens and pencils) as they started to roll from my desk. I remember saying to myself, “if only you could, but you can’t.” and the object would float or crash to the floor. Often when I would make for the grab I would be a foot or two off the mark or way to slow to make it to the object. This is where the first part of the wheel that I focused on comes into effect. I instituted a plan of meditation for 2 hours with an hour of bola spinning. Later on in the semester I moved one hour and thirty minutes from passive (sitting) meditation to active (tai chi) meditation to practice circular flow of motion. The meditation time was to work on Mental Readiness, Positive Imagery, and Distraction Control. The spinning (practice time) was used to build experience (confidence) with the newly acquired device.
The Wheel of Excellence consists of 7 elements. Six of the seven elements need to be worked on more by some individuals than others, but the common element that the other six stem from is Focus. I started with the element of Mental Readiness. Mental readiness to me means having no doubts about one’s self, one’s abilities, and the outcome. I had to steady my own mind before I could steady my movements. I had to reevaluate who I was and what I wanted to achieve. I had to unconditionally believe that my planed outcome would come to pass and it would be brought about by my work. I had to accept the fact that I had one hand and accept that this would make the experience a challenge do to pain as a distraction. This was taken care of at first with mental imaging (the arm was fine moving normally), positive self-talk (“My arm is relaxed, fine and feels good”), meditation with a focus on relaxing. Over time the pain turned into a tolerable discomfort.
In order to achieve the complete mental readiness which I desired I had to initiate and practice Positive imaging. At first the positive imaging was changing my self-talk. Instead of saying “I could not,” I started to tell myself “I want to.” I found that commanding myself from an (external perspective) to follow an order or direction was met by a lot of resistance and obstacles (images of failure and the resulting anxiety from that failure) which added to any situational inhibitions. When I placed personal wants, and drives where the thoughts of failure had been the actions I wanted to perform became more enjoyable and more interesting. To prevent future self-talk I committed to accepting the negatives and reviewing the positives.
In order to train my eye hand coordination, reflexes, and orientation within space, I started by spinning, a Bola. This device is used mostly for roping small game but I have constructed one from juggle balls, and nylon stockings (tights). At first I had used gravel to form the weighted ends with added some negative imagery and a substantial distraction (weights flying around my body). Having been mentally ready for the immediate failures I did not allow the negative experience to instill a lack of confidence in my ability.
ReplyDeleteIn order to keep mental readiness and to prevent from bringing bad luggage from one instance to the next was to treat each mess up or distraction as an opportunity for my refocusing plan; take care of, sort out any distractions, accept the negatives, reflect on the positives, rest the muscles, clear the head and get some water before going back to work. Also, it helped to be able to experience each new start at spinning as a distinctly separate event, not influenced by past spins. For the first half of the semester I was no pro at keeping my mental readiness, nor was I great at meditating but over time the ability to control the imagery and prevent negative self-talk evolved.
Positive imaging was a large help at this point as well. The class and the book both talk about utilizing multiple senses in order to experience a situation mentally (with substance). This imaging did not consist of snap shots but an extended experience. During the Meditation phase of practice I implemented, the “five sense imagery,” in order to visualize and plan what was going to take place during the physical practice. (I could smell the smoke of burning candles brought forth from the spinning arms of the bola. I could see the balls as the pass by; feel the strain of the extending weights as my fingers move to bring them back around.) My largest problem at the time was my lack of understanding of circular flows of motion. It was during the meditation period, after a few weeks, that I noticed bola spinning to be a lot like group jump rope (find the right time and jump). Jumping rope requires 3 people who mesh with the situation. I had to mesh with the flow of the bola.
At this point I needed to go to the Zen chapter. To mesh with the bola I needed to be in the present, not the past or the future. I needed to try and discover an absolute connection to what I was doing. I had to let go of my pictured and planned routine (labeling it as one of many possibilities as not to interfere with my picture of the now). I had to forget about what was going to happen to me when that bag came flying at me. I had to not think. I had to feel. Sight for this exercise I found to be the biggest obstacle. As one only can perceive change that has been altered to an “nth” degree; I found my sight to be misleading. Using the senses which are constantly taking in stimuli I tried to connect to spinning. I was at first rigid and lost but I learned that being soft and flexible is about becoming part of the performance not being its conductor.
Applying the knowledge from the book and from the lectures I was able to block, dodge, and catch about 60% of the items which are thrown at me or which have slipped from my grasp. Most of the time I am able to get a hand on the falling item before it hits the ground but there is still work to be done. The time I take each day to practice has become an important habit of my day. It relieves pent up energy and emotion in a productive and controlled manor. I have utilized most of the wheel of excellence to improve my studies and to reevaluate interpersonal relationships. As I formed a relationship with the Bola there was never and will never be a point where I feel like I have stopped learning.
My external goal was to become excellent at practicing mindfulness. I chose this goal because last year my mentor introduced me to the concept of mindfulness. I started to read more about practicing mindfulness and I started changing my perspective on life. When this class began, I knew this would be a perfect time to change my behaviors and my mindset in my life. It was very discouraging at first because taking on this task was much larger and more difficult than I initially anticipated. I had no quantitative way of determining if I was on track for reaching my goals. I had way to high aspirations of when I first begun. I checked in with my mentor a few times when I felt like I hit a road bump on my path to excellence. My goals were far to abstract and undefined. Professor Gayton asked me one day in class, “If a Martian landed in earth, what would you say to explain what mindfulness is?” and I had the hardest time trying to describe what mindfulness and being mindful actually is. But through the exercises that we did in class, with the combined reading of my mindfulness book and Orlick's book on achieving excellence, I was able to set more realistic goals for ascertaining my objective. One of the most beneficial days in class was when we went over how to set goals that were more tangible, more likely to be reached. I spent the whole class trying to think how can I actually meet my goals? After listening to how everyone else in the class was going to change their goal and make it more realistic, I was able to say, I’m going to meditate every day for at least one hour. By doing this I would know daily if I reached my goal or not. If I missed my goals, I would have to make up for that loss on the next day. I also set a goal that every other day I will listen to my instructional mindfulness CD right before bed. My mindfulness CD has exercises very similar to the autogenic training CD we used in class. My CD includes, body scans, breathing exercises, meditative yoga, and then peaceful music to listen to when meditating. By having these goals, I was able notice a significant improvement in my behavior in a very short time. I was no longer upset and stressed out about not understanding my own goals. I knew what I needed to do, and what I needed to accomplish.
ReplyDeleteBeing mindful is changing your life perspective on being aware of the present. In my mindfulness book I really liked the short example of what mindfulness is. In any situation there are two perspectives, Perspective A and perspective B. In any situation, even though both A and B have the same experience, they may have been perceived entirely different. Mindfulness is described as a camera observing both A and B. It really simplified how to understand what being present truly is. It’s standing in a situation free of bias and observing what is actually happening.
From Orlick's book many chapters really applied and resonated with my goals. The most useful chapters from Orlick's book were Chapter 11: Zen Experiences, and Chapter 12: Perspectives. These chapters resonated so well with me because these are the themes I've picked up from my mindfulness book.
The Zen experience was very useful because this is the basis of being Mindful. The Zen chapter in Orlick's book says, "If you begin to reflect, deliberate, question, condemn, or judge along the way, you lose the pure connection or become disconnected, apart from, separate, tentative, distracted." This ties directly into what I was talking about with the A and B perspectives of mindfulness. Zen, along with Mindfulness is to let go of forcing things; letting go of outcomes and expectations.
Perspectives from Orlick's book state that the key to getting closer to your potential is found in your ability to focus on a positive perspective, and to view your challenges in a more beneficial and constructive way. By shifting your perspective you can ease your worries and let go of trying to control a certain situation and letting yourself view yourself separate from the situation.
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ReplyDeleteToward the last part of this semester, I felt like I was meeting my goals and doing very well. So I decided to add another goal for myself. This goal was to integrate learning more about mindfulness by talking about and practicing it with other people. I thought that by being able to work with other people and talk about ideas of mindfulness it would benefit me greatly with my overall goals, and it has! I’ve been working with one of my friends with a mindfulness workbook that I have, and every week we set specific goals. And we meet once a week and dedicate time to talk about our experiences and what we have encountered. I’ve found myself learning so much more than when I was doing this alone.
My excellence activity this semester for outside the classroom was personal finance management. On day one I assigned myself the concrete goal of saving $500 by December 15th. I still have four more days to go, but I don't need them—I reached my goal a few weeks ago, and now I have over $500 saved. Before this challenge began that goal was far off in the distance. I have never saved money before and just assumed I was “bad with money.” But by learning and applying the techniques for attaining excellence I reached my goal, boosted my confidence, and seriously improved my fiscal situation permanently.
ReplyDeleteI began by tracking my finances very strictly. I downloaded a program for my computer in which I recorded every penny of my income and spending and broke my spending down into categories which were presented in a pie chart. I had instant visual access to exactly what's going on with my money, which helped me stay focused. I also wrote and tracked progress of my goal on the big whiteboard above my desk so that I could look at it every day. I committed myself to recording my revenue every single day. The process of tracking everything was the biggest test of my commitment to this assignment. Never having taken control of my finances before, actually knowing how much money I was making and spending was foreign to me. It took a lot of discipline to stay committed and keep coming back every day.
Because I had always been out of control with money, I started this all out with pretty low confidence. I knew I had to get some in order to get excellent at managing my money. The only way to do this was to achieve minor goals. I realized I had to supplement my long-term goal with shorter, smaller goals, so I broke up the three months I had to make $500 into increments, and determined how much I had to save every two weeks in order to make the goal. However, I couldn't do that realistically until I had a picture of how much I could actually afford to save each week—so it was essential for me to start off with the tracking. In time, the tracking and the short-term savings goals became the foundation of my savings plan and a source of great confidence. After a month of continuous success, I knew that I would reach my goal on time. It wasn't even a question.
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That isn't to say that this process wasn't painful at times. A big problem I encountered early on was that I simply wasn't making enough money. I had the opportunity to work more but I chose to work 20 hours a week or less, and I never thought much about it. I had to step back and think about why I wasn't working more. It became apparent that there were some unresolved emotional blocks that made me avoid picking up additional money-making shifts, and I would have to come to terms with them in order to advance my goal. This was an interesting twist because I ended up applying some of Orlick's principles to my job. For the first time ever I looked at waitressing as a performance in which I wanted to excel. To become mentally ready for work, I used a lot of positive imagery to see myself going to work and not having any conflicts with my coworkers. I imagined myself being confident and competent and brushing any negativity off as irrelevant to me and my goals. My confidence at work, I have to say, has actually improved quite a bit because of this. I started picking up as many shifts as I could and stayed focused at work, which brought in the money, and impressed my managers too. It's been a great experience.
ReplyDeleteI'd say it was about two months of work that turned me into a person who consistently tracked her finances, was saving money, and was making a lot of money while enjoying being at work. I was in a really good place but I knew that I had to keep progressing to become excellent. This project has introduced me to a whole entire world of finance that I never knew about. I researched the subject extensively and found so many avenues that I have to explore. The ongoing learning opportunities are endless. I've only touched on the surface, but some of the things I am pursuing are responsible ownership of a credit card; building credit; fixed-interest; the stock market (holy shit, hello world); compound interest; bonds and T-bills...and so much more. Actually, just yesterday I realized I had five extra cents in my savings account that I didn't put there. I was shocked when I realized I was gaining interest on my savings because I actually had money in my savings account for the first time. I've never been so excited about five cents before. Pathetic? No. Excellent? Definitely.
I'm having to post this in two sections...
ReplyDeleteThe other major issue I ran into was time. The workouts are about an hour and half and then I needed to plan meals. I already had a pretty full plate with school and teaching and construction work. So, I adjusted again by starting with just the change in diet. Thus, I had to lesson my goals. I had to figure out this aspect of the program first before I could go on with the workouts. I found that planning meals and eating well was difficult on its own, without the exercise.
I have kept with the diet/food plan and learned along the way how I needed to customize it for myself. I have not done that much of the exercise part of it, because I simply did not have the time. When I did exercise I was sore, but I did not feel overwhelmed by the program. I knew that if I was going to do this correctly, I was going to have to wait until my winter break. So, I have continued with the diet and I exercise once or twice a week. This is allowing for my body to get strong and not be overly taxed. When I begin to do the program every day, I’ll be able to handle it day to day much better than I would have if I went straight into it.
I learned quite a bit about myself throughout the semester with regard to the project. The first thing I learned is that I tend to overshoot. The book idea was not very realistic and even the change to the exercise program was just as difficult a task. I just had more desire to do the exercise program. I have lost some weight and feel better because of the way I have been eating. I also learned about true commitment and making the choices that need to be made to be successful. I had to rearrange rooms in my house to allow for space to exercise. I had a lot of fear of starting the project without completing it, but I had to change those cognitive pressures. I was not going to complete the program by the end of the semester, but I could begin to get in shape, lose a little weight, and learn to eat and purchase food in a way that I could afford and that would help me be successful I the exercise part of the program.
This is the first part...
ReplyDeleteI began with the external goal of writing every day for an hour on the topic of Argentine tango. Eventually, my writings were to form a book. I soon realized after setting out on this goal that I had set the bar too high for myself. I teach Argentine tango, thus my knowledge of the subject suited me well in forming the ideas of the book. However, I’m not sure who I was writing the book for. The concepts that I was writing about worked very well in my private lessons, but they were far more difficult to teach in a group class. Thus, I realized that I still had much interest in writing the book, but that I needed to examine how to take a complex teaching and deliver it in a highly palatable and highly intimate way.
Week in and week out I tried to push through and write, but I lacked a cohesive vision for the book. I had plenty of ideas, but was not sure why someone would read the book. I needed a better overall vision with, I dare say, some marketable aim. After about a month I was convinced that I needed to change my external goal to something completely different. I knew that I could not proceed with the book at this time and that I need to use my time in private lessons to test a few ideas out. Thus, I did not feel that my efforts were a loss. I have a better understanding of the leg work I must do to look at other books on subjects that present like problems with regard to the writing.
My new external goal was to do an exercise program called P90X. It takes 90 days and involves major changes in diet and life style. I was going to have to invest in certain equipment and take a bit more time in planning meals. So, I got started by purchasing dumbbells, yoga mats, a pull-up bar, and a few other smaller pieces of equipment. Then I began to look at and understand how my diet would have to change. The diet part of the program proved to be very challenging. I eat very well already, so essentially I was increasing my protein intake and cutting down significantly on carbs and sugars. Planning meals for the day was time-consuming and it seemed like a tremendous amount of food. The meals also had to be fairly strategic with regard to the time I would eat them. Probably the most difficult aspect of this diet is that all my food comes from the farmer’s market. I spend very little time and money in supermarkets. So, there was quite an expense in eating this much protein when it all comes from the farmer’s market. I made adjustments and decided that some of it was going to have to some from the supermarket.
My outside goal was to raise my fitness level. And I recognize that this was a hastily chosen goal, and it is something that I always fall back on as something I need to work on but never do. My commitment to the task has always been something that is lacking and in need of improvement. Through this class I came to realize that while I noticed that I wasn’t committed to the task of improving my fitness level I didn’t notice or pay heed to the negative self-talk I was doing and I lack confidence in this area.
ReplyDeleteSo to work on this I tried to mix things up, to keep it interesting and fresh, by changing workouts often. My hope was that through this I could more easily stay committed to my task. And I focused on controlling my negative self-talk through the juggling. Juggling was a very engaging task for me, but also one that I really have come to enjoy, its calming now that there isn’t big pressure to perform, it is more of a fun little skill I now have. But it wasn’t always like that, I did get frustrated learning to juggle and I did have a lot of negative self-talk which I started to work on by contradicting what I was saying in my mind. Interestingly enough, one of the things I hate the most is being told that I can’t do something because I am not good enough or smart enough etc... But I never thought to handle my self-talk in that way until now. Now as I look at my negative self-talk, I can look at it, and defy it. It’s almost like if the task seems insurmountable, that makes me want to try all the more. In reference to juggling specifically this came into play when learning to juggle four balls. It was (and still is) very difficult to juggle four consistently, and at first I wanted to just stop, or to learn three ball tricks. But I got my heart set on four, and pushed through; practicing each part of the style of juggling leading up to the four ball juggle.
Juggling also has become a relaxing task that has an almost Zen like state that comes along with it. It requires focus, but not on each individual ball, but more of everything that is happening concerning your juggling, like positioning, power, and aim. This focused calmness was helpful to work inside of. And it was also a source of ongoing learning, because it was something that even after I had gotten the hand of three ball juggling, I didn’t want to stop, I focused even more on learning new variations.
I think what this class has taught me overall that I find the most important, is my priorities and what I enjoy. The fitness level task really didn’t mesh, though I did make some sustainable changes and they worked well (taking the stairs, walking to places more) they did not get me the results I wanted (or thought I wanted). What I really have learned is that where I am physically is good for me. I am happy where I am, and that beyond when my fitness level naturally rises (during the warmer months & tennis season), that I am not some couch bound person, it’s just I am not some huge body builder either. The other thing I have learned is what I enjoy. I really enjoy learning new skills, and abilities. Juggling was so much fun to learn it started me thinking about what I wanted to do in relation to that. And I really enjoy close up magic, and so my self-imposed task for the coming semester is to learn some magic tricks, something that I could walk up to someone on the street and perform and then walk away as if nothing happened. And hey, if my career choice doesn’t work out, with magic and juggling under my belt I am sure I’ll be a hit a birthday parties, or performances.