Want to be a Master, but I love 25 things

Becoming a real master means you have to choose something to be masterful at. That’s a problem for me.

I like lifting, running, yoga, calisthenics, and jiu jitsu,

writing, thinking, flipping, creating, and innovating,

science, philosophy, theology, poetry, and leadership,

cooking, reading, hiking, praying, and creating photographs,

health, nature, farming, laughing, and cold showers.

And that’s just the start. I’m a jack of all trades but a master of one. I really have no idea what to pursue in my free time, so I end up spending hours on social media and watching TV.

I should probably work on one thing at a time. That’s how the masters do it.

I am in Control

I’ve been wearing an Ōura ring to track my sleep, activity, and readiness for well over a year now. I get meaningful data from it: it tells me how recovered I am and helps me to plan my training so I can prevent injury. But recently its been creating some unwanted side effects. If I don’t get a good sleep score, I panic and wonder what I did wrong. If my readiness is down, I do my best to “take it easy” and not push myself. I overassess over calories burned and miles walked. The whole thing was stressing me out.

So I took it off.

Sure, I’ll be missing some valuable data about how my body is performing. But guess what? I didn’t want to be a slave to this health-tracking device anymore. I’m in control of my body. I’m in control of how I spend my days and the life I want to create. My mind is more powerful than a readiness score. Whether I’m feeling good or not, I’m going to start pushing myself again, like the good-old days.

The ring taught me a lot about myself, like how I need to be in bed for 9 hours and how at least one day of week should be taken off. But I know this stuff now. It’s time to bring it into practice. I am in control, and nobody can take this control away from me.

Are you in control? Or are you a slave to your ring, or your watch, or your phone, or your grades, or your scale? Are you a number or a human being with a mind—the most powerful tool on earth?

The good news? You decide your fate. You just have to take responsibility for the outcome.

Be Aggressive in Pursuit of Greatness

We’re on our way back from the Nittany Lion Challenge at Penn State. I ran the 400 and a 4×400. In both races, I ran well but I wasn’t aggressive enough. My mindset was right, I was prepared for both races, but I just didn’t bring the right amount of do-or-die energy. I was soft in my execution and not strong enough in my race demeanor.

I ran okay, but could have raced better. There needs to be a different approach to my future races, one where I ferociously compete and rule out the possibility of loosing. If I ran harder out of the gate, i would’ve been in the race. I would’ve been pulled through, would have ran a faster time, and might not have lost.

Balancing the triviality of running around an oval with the fierceness that can only come from a passion to destroy others and be victorious is a difficult task that I’ve yet to master. It’s a strange thing: trying to act like running doesn’t matter so that I don’t get anxious while recognizing that I need to make it matter to be any good at it. I don’t know if I ever will. But I can try. And try again. And try until my very last race.

But I’ve made a decision. Next race, I’m going to run as if my life depends on it. Period.

One Calendar

I’ve been listening to Zig Ziglar’s Secrets to Closing the Sale on Audible recently. It’s a classic. I can’t begin to unpack all the timeless wisdom encompassed in the book. But there’s one thing that stuck with me, in my soul. Zig said to keep one calendar for every area of your life. That spoke to me, because with my disorganized planner, 5 Apple calendars, and 3 Google calendars, it’s easy to get things mixed up.

So today I drew a January calendar in my notebook (better late than never). And I’m gonna use it. Every day. To the best of my abilities. One calendar for every area of my life. It’s time to bring order to the chaos of my existence.

Thank you, Zig. I hope you’re proud of who I’m becoming.

My Most Patient Self

I’ve been working on being more patient lately. I’m trying to practice patience when I’m driving, interacting with loved ones, and sitting in class. It’s really a whole-systems approach, and I’ve been attacking it by addressing my core wound of always wanting to be in control. I have good days and bad days, but overall I’ve seen improvement.

I went to visit my Grandpa today. He is 88 and living in an assisted living facility. He was a soldier during peacetime in WWII and a math teacher for years in Goshen, New York. Now, he has Parkinson’s. It’s hard for him to get words out sometimes, but he’s still sharp as a tack. I have to give him time to get his words out when he’s talking, and though I still have trouble understanding him from time-to-time, giving him the space to speak helps him out.

This situation forces me to give up control, be patient, and listen instead of talk. Awkward silences are not only the price of admission but welcome, for it is only by silence that Grandpa can get his point across. Camille came with me to visit him today. On the ride home, she told me she’s never seen a more patient version of me than when I’m with my Grandpa. That made me take a step back.

Patience can manifest in many forms, but it’s always here, always accessible, and always beneficial. I want to be My Most Patient Self every day, not just when I visit my Grandpa. This is my patient ideal. What’s yours?

My Learning, Creating, and Meditating Schedule

These are three modalities I will use to help discover more about who I am, what I am, and how I am called to serve: by learning, by creating, and by meditating. Here are the rules for each.

Learning Rule: read something I want to read

Creating Rule: write, design, or craft personal art

Meditating Rule: any kind of mindful seated / standing

For the remainder of the semester, I will be Learning on Sunday – Thursday, I will be creating on Tuesday, and I will be Meditating on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I am on a mission to discover myself so I can better myself. This only becomes possible through daily and weekly habits. Nothing meaningful gets accomplished without purposefully crafted and diligently executed habits.

Don’t forget about Time Management

I just recorded the 4th episode of It’s All Mahalo with my girlfriend, Camille. It’ll be published around Friday. If you want to listen to the first 3 episodes, you can find it wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio.

This week, Camille and I had a conversation about our passions, our futures, and being okay with giving up some control. We culminated the discussion by talking about how we can implement these concepts practically into our daily lives. The answer, as Camille pointed out, has to be Time Management.

The biggest takeaway from this conversation as to focus on timely habits rather than achieving goals within a timeframe. An example: if you want to start reading before bed, make it a priority to read for 20 minutes before bed as opposed to reading 40 pages before bed. This allows you to have some freedom within your schedule and focusses on the process of reading rather than the end goal of completing a book. With emphasis on the habit of reading, we become free to read rather than bound to our commitment of reading a certain amount.

This method can be extrapolated to many things aside from reading. The next time I want to implement something into my daily life, I’m going to focus on the habit over achievement, on the process instead of the goal. After all, life is the process of living, not the goal of having lived.

Keep it Simple

A Post-It note above my desk readers three words: Keep it Simple. Three words is all it takes to remind myself of the most disguised and hidden truth in the natural world. I, like the rest of the human race, tend to overcomplicate, overthink, and overpower each of my daily tasks. From washing dishes to walking to class to writing a simple paragraph response for an online discussion board, I am an expert at de-simplifying my life.

But when I read those three words, a switch goes off. Clarity overshadows me. Innovations and problem solving strategies result. I am made new by three small words.

Keep it Simple. Simple routines, simple schedules, simple meals, simple workouts, simple home decor, simple priorities. Why? Because we always lose meaning in the details.

Past the Threshold

You know the moment—the “what did I get myself into” moment. The “this was a terrible idea” moment. The “not today” moment. It’s ubiquitous because you and I are hard wired to seek comfort.

I feel this pain of indecision every time I go to get in an ice bath. Then, every time, I turn my brain off and jump right in, up to my neck. Immediately my body curses me, wondering why I put myself through this suffering week after week. Today, I was in the tub for thirty seconds and my brain was still trying to pull me out. I actually felt my body start to make a move for the exit, but I reeled it back in and breathed deep. I’ve made it through much worse than five minutes of cold water.

Nobody fully understands the power of the human mind. Its influence is evasive yet supple, able to be changed on an instant but rock solid in neurologic programming. Many people believe that our decisions are just a complex series of electrical and chemical processes, shaped by our environments, upbringing, and the current environment. They think the brain is destined to make one decision over another.

But there’s one thing I’ve learned from my life experience: the mind can be trained.

Whether it’s telling yourself that you will finish this workout, last five minutes in the cold, or stay away from sugar this week, the mind is capable of a lot. Most importantly, it’s capable of moving you past the threshold of pain into the arena of choice. Your mind offers you freedom by granting you access to a world of potentiality, one few people know exists. But it has to be trained; it cannot only be subject to the soft world we live in.

Harden your mind by doing difficult things. You will be better because of it.

Take Your Time, Make Art

I find myself setting internal deadlines too ludicrous to ever be met. Day after day I make plans and schedules trying to get a handle on this time thing. And, like clockwork, day after day I overestimate what I think I can accomplish and underestimate the time it takes to complete menial tasks. Day after day I am kicking myself, wondering when I’ll finally learn to take control of my day.

It’s all vanity.

Maybe instead of squeezing every last task into my day I should spend some time being grateful for the day I have. Perhaps this moment in gratitude could help me remember why I’m here: to live, to love, to be of service. And then, just maybe, I could spend more time creating art and less time trying to fit my laundry folding into ten minutes.

Imagine how your life could change if every day you were reminded of your purpose. What if instead of getting frustrated with yourself you forgave yourself. Consider how much art you could create if you stopped wasting time making schedules too structured to follow.

Maybe this post could be a reminder to all of us: take your time, make art.

Take your time. Make Art…