Quote of the Day

I met someone this weekend who, after a major tragedy, decided to take the goal-free path. His life is now one of adventure and exploration, always trying new things. He says that he still makes plans. But the purpose of the plans is to tell him what NOT to do. He and his buddies have an expression they frequently use:

“We have a plan. Commence deviation.”

I love it!

If you found this article useful or interesting, please press the "Like" button and post a Facebook comment below.

Comment on Blog

From time to time, I will take comments buried deep within my blog, and include them here. Here is a recent comment that you may not have seen.

“How our perspectives get elevated in accordance with our inflation in life experience, external events and thus expectations. We get moulded, bullied and branded everyday into beliefs, popular opinion and attitude which engulf our individual spirits wave after wave. I often feel typhooned by the current climate and culture immediate to me. That is to say, laziness, ineptness, a restraint for anything self sacrificial, self analytical (introspective), innovative creativity, exploration and a culture shaped by convenience.

“I feel out of place because my attitude stems from wanting to rise to the top through unorthodox methods – meeting and knowing people. Human character and the person behind the letters and degrees to their name. I am a great believer in networking and that we are all within a nexus of humanity – of which can be contacted behind all types of masks and protrusions that protect the inner sanctum of our souls and mettle.

“I could say much more, but what I basically mean is that by Goal free living and slowing my life down in accordance with my current environment and a whole lot more, I have been able to cope with myself and my environment.”

You can find the original blog entry, and the full comment here

If you found this article useful or interesting, please press the "Like" button and post a Facebook comment below.

Go 95%; Achieve Optimal Performance

I just read a blog entry on CanOWorms that discusses the concept of 95% perfection. The general idea is that in sports, we achieve optimal performance when we put 95% effort into what we do. My own experiences — personal and professional — support this premise.

A few years ago, I worked with a Formula One team (auto racing). Their pit crews have long been admired for their ability to fuel a car, change the tires (back before rule changes that disallowed tire changes during refueling), and do the required maintenance in a matter of seconds. There are 19 people in a pit crew. To find the optimal configuration of the team, they move each of the crew members around until they get the best combination. And then they practice more. All of this is under while being measured with a stop watch. Eventually the team can go no faster; they hit a performance plateau no matter how hard they try. Once, as an experiment, the pit crew members were told that they were NOT going to be timed; that they should just go as fast as possible without going full out (95%?). The result? The pit crew shaved several tenths of a second off their best time – although pit crew members “felt” that they went slower.

When we remove the time pressures of traditional goals and the mental pressure to go full out (100%), our efforts flow more effortlessly and we perform at optimum levels. Whether it be in sports or in life, when we play, have fun, and allow life to unfold naturally – rather than forcing it – we operate at a higher level of performance AND do it with greater ease.

If you found this article useful or interesting, please press the "Like" button and post a Facebook comment below.