Whether the student practices swordsmanship, archery, caligraphy, or tea ceremony, any conscious understanding of the practice that remains in the mind will only cause conflict during a performance.
-Munenori
From Maku mozo!
So true. So true.
Turn off the brain, and just do.
Far easier said than done, especially since it takes near-mastery before you can just do.
Strive.
Numerous seemingly disparate things come together quite harmoniously in my life.
For example, my company, Hsoi Enterprises LLC, blends things like personal defense and computer software. Witness, the DR Performance Practice Deck for iOS.
So when I read this article, “11 Steve Jobs Quotes Applied to Weightlifting“, it brought two things in my life — Apple and weightlifting — together.
The reality is, most of the Steve quotes in the article apply to anything in life, or just to life itself.
The quotes that stood out most to me?
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
and
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Tho every single quote in there applies and is useful to contemplate. Next time I’m under the bar — or under any sort of stress — these are some words of wisdom worth heeding.
He said, “Do you think it’s morally right to punish someone who’s done nothing wrong?”
And I said, “No.”
He said , “Then why do you think it’s morally right to reward someone who’s done nothing right?”
— Penn Jilette
Full video:
Via Fark and HuffPo, I learn about this thing called possibilianism.
What is possibilianism?
Possibilianism is a philosophy which rejects both the idiosyncratic claims of traditional theism and the positions of certainty in atheism in favor of a middle, exploratory ground. The term was first defined by neuroscientist David Eagleman in relation to his book of fiction Sum. Asked whether he was an atheist or a religious person on a National Public Radio interview in February, 2009, he replied “I call myself a Possibilian: I’m open to ideas that we don’t have any way of testing right now.” In a subsequent interview with the New York Times, Eagleman expanded on the definition:
“Our ignorance of the cosmos is too vast to commit to atheism, and yet we know too much to commit to a particular religion. A third position, agnosticism, is often an uninteresting stance in which a person simply questions whether his traditional religious story (say, a man with a beard on a cloud) is true or not true. But with Possibilianism I’m hoping to define a new position — one that emphasizes the exploration of new, unconsidered possibilities. Possibilianism is comfortable holding multiple ideas in mind; it is not interested in committing to any particular story.”
An adherent of possibilianism is called a possibilian. The possibilian perspective is distinguished from agnosticism in that it consists of an active exploration of novel possibilities and an emphasis on the necessity of holding multiple positions at once if there is no available data to privilege one over the others. Possibilianism reflects the scientific temperament of creativity, testing, and tolerance for multiple ideas.
But better than reading about it watch this 20 minute presentation by David Eagleman.
I was baptised Presbyterian and presently live in a Roman Catholic household. I remember at a very young age one of the first “deep thoughts” I had was realizing that everything in life and the world is relative: we can only know something in relation to something else. I think from that moment on it shaped how I viewed the world. Sure, I had a lot of growing up years spent in church youth groups and whatnot, but all that time did was demonstrate to me just how un-Christ-like so many Christians are. I get to undergrad and of course that becomes a good mind-opening experience (especially when you’re surrounded by so many people who claim to be “progressive” and “open-minded”, but in reality are some of the most close-minded individuals you’ll ever meet). I took courses on religion and philosophy and gained deeper thought and insight into many things. I received my first exposure to Taoism in undergrad, and while I don’t consider myself a Taoist, the philosophy, has much wisdom.
Then one day I realized that the best label I could give myself was “agnostic”. Why? Because the best I could come up with was “I don’t know”. Positions of theism or atheism are held as so definite: we KNOW for a FACT, or at least, that’s how those believers carry on. But it’s just that: belief. Neither group can know for a fact that their position is right. I often talk about how of the thousands of religions we’ve had in recorded history, and if we even bump that number up a bunch to count religions in unrecorded history and religions that maybe have never been recorded (e.g. small tribes, etc.) well… whatever you bump that number up to, it’s still quite small against the infinite possible explanations to questions like “how was the world created?” and “what happens when you die?”. So some simple math tells you that the chances of YOUR creation story being THE way things were created? Well, it’s possible it could be, but it’s more likely it’s not.
As well, I never liked the fact we called things “mythology”. To those ancient Greeks and Romans, to those ancient Egyptians, to those Vikings of yore… that was their religion. They believed in Zeus and Ra and Odin just as strongly as some today believe in Jesus and Allah. But people today shrug off that mythology as silly and uneducated. So, how will the religions of today be viewed 1000 years from now? All I can say is, I don’t know… but I can look at the trend and perhaps make a reasoned guess that today’s serious religion will be tomorrow’s silly mythology.
So when I stumbled upon this notion of “Possibilianism”, I didn’t know what to expect, but it sounded interesting and resonated with me. I watched the video and Mr. Eagleman was saying many of the same things I’ve been saying, only his presentation was far better put together. I never really liked the term “agnostic” because one, it never felt quite right, two, it has too many meanings that are either complicated to explain or are just misunderstood and you’ll never explain it well enough for someone to truly understand. So a new term like “possibilian”… maybe that’s a better label for me.
I don’t know.
Be more aggressive in life. Eat more meat. Say no to people and things that are awful. Don’t settle for anything you don’t want.
– Jim Wendler
It’s easier not to be awesome.
– Jim Wendler
Found here, part of a Q&A with Jim:
12/15/2009 8:43:00 AM – Scott
Hi Jim, I read that Jason Adams was using your 5/3/1 Training Program BBB for a bodybuilding show, and that you were working on a “bodybuilding” template version of 5-3-1. Any update on that or what mods to BBB do you recommend?? Thanks.
Scott,
I’ve got numerous Boring But Big programs in my new book – but they are all essentially the same.
There is no secret to any of this – You have to be willing to suffer the soreness of the training and continue to get stronger.
And be disciplined as hell with the diet (i.e. NEVER miss a meal/cheat on a meal for months/years) and the training.
That is what most people find hard to do.
If you read my prior workout entry, especially the comments, diet is the toughest thing for me. Reading what Jim wrote above makes it all hit home. That it’s going to take months/years — it’s like everything else, the long haul. Have to be disciplined as hell.
And perhaps if I just keep it in my head that I am seeking to be awesome well…. that won’t make it any easier, but it may keep me on track. “John, do you want to be awesome, or do you want to be a slob like everyone else?” Yes, I’ve got just enough ego that might work. 😉
But it doesn’t even hold for lifting weights or losing weight. It holds for everything in life. Look at people at the top, in professional sports, the Olympics, business, shooting sports, show business, whatever… it wasn’t easy to get to the top, nothing worth having in life is easy, and it’s only through hard work that you’ll get to the top.
So… maybe this posting is just me trying to pound it through my own thick skull. Fixing my diet, and fixing a few other things.
Be awesome. It’s hard, but worth it.
A couple days ago I posted about drawing comfort from discomfort and how it’s through discomfort that we grow and become better at whatever we do in life.
Flipping through my Facebook feed and an article was posted on the very same topic. The article itself is a couple of years old, but it dovetails nicely with what I wrote previously.
Discomfort is a good thing. It toughens you up, and it’s often a sign of good things to come. For example, discomfort in the gym when trying a new exercise leads to new muscle growth.
When I feel all that weight across my shoulders when I’m squatting, I feel like it’s going to kill me, but I know it won’t. I know it will make me stronger. Heck, yesterday I had to pick an awkward, bulky, heavy object off the floor, one that I’ve picked up in the past and struggled with. When I picked it up yesterday it was no problem. Once it was up in my arms I said to myself “…and that’s why we deadlift”.
By avoiding discomfort you miss out on some of the best things in life. There’s an old saying about critics that goes like this, “If you want to avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” The same can be said of discomfort:
If you want to avoid discomfort, do nothing, experience nothing, be nothing.
You won’t be uncomfortable. But you won’t really be alive either.
Seek discomfort. Do front squats. Talk to that girl.
Take risks.
Live.
Only people willing to work to the point of discomfort on a regular basis using effective means to produce that discomfort will actually look like they have been other-than-comfortable most of the time. You can thank the muscle magazines for these persistent misconceptions, along with the natural tendency of all normal humans to seek reasons to avoid hard physical exertion.
— Mark Rippetoe
Granted, Rippetoe is talking about weightlifting and exercise, but it really holds for anything and everything in life.
You watch those ice skaters during the Winter Olympics, and they look so effortless; that’s only because you haven’t seen how they have to train all those years prior to that one performance. Someone that is comfortable in front of a crowd, speaking in public… they had to do a lot of work to get up there and make it seem so natural. When you watch someone shooting a gun, like top competitors such as Rob Leatham or Julie Golob, they look so cool under pressure because they’ve put themselves under a lot of pressure. That’s how they got to the top of their game.
When it comes to self-defense, like Mark alludes to, people are unwilling to seek discomfort. Can you think of a more uncomfortable situation that being attacked? How do you think you can overcome this discomfort? You have to put yourself into it.
Try competition shooting, or at least, take shooting classes and realize that everyone else in class is watching you, sizing you up, and comparing you. Hopefully that class might have some drills or activities that put pressure on you, like having everyone shoot a drill solo while the rest of the class looks on, or doing “shoot off” elimination drills, etc..
Take some boxing classes… no cardio boxing, but something where you’ll actually get hit in face and gut.
Take some Force-on-Force training classes, where you get put into life-like scenarios and have to decide when and how to use your gun or other defensive skills and tactics.
Life is full of discomfort. Sometimes you can ignore and avoid it, but many discomforts will hound you. The only way to rid yourself of the discomfort will be to become comfortable with it.
You can’t make people smarter. You can expose them to information, but your responsibility stops there.
– Mark Rippetoe
KR Training Assistant Instructor and Houston Police Officer, Justin Galindo, posted the following videos and comments to his Facebook page:
Says Justin:
Interesting dramatized ad for body armor, but actually this a better ad for carrying a backup pistol. Watch the whole thing and you’ll see what I mean.
Then Justin posted this video:
Justin’s comment for the above video:
Contrast the difference between that last video and this one. Body armor is great, but I’d rather have a determined will to prevail and to win.
A good compare and contrast. In the former, she survived through equipment and luck. In the latter, he survived because of equipment, the will to live, the determination to fight and win.
Interesting coincidence. Prior to seeing Justin’s posts I was flipping channels on TV and “American Gladiators” was on. It was the woman’s Eliminator. Both contestants started about the same time, but one clearly was taking the lead and the other was struggling to keep up. The woman in the lead got to near the end where there’s that uphill reverse conveyor belt, and she tried, and tried, but kept failing to get over the top. Despite a huge gap between the two competitors, the other woman managed to catch up and go on to cross the finish line first — she wanted it more, she was determined to finish. Yes the first woman appeared to have physically run out of gas, but you could see in her eyes that she had just given up. Both women were physically spent, but the one that won had the will to prevail and win.
Stuff From Hsoi 