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The Joy of Discovery

By Mark Aoyagi

My daughter is 8 months old and hasn’t yet seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted anything boring or uninteresting. Everything she is presented with, it is as if she is experiencing it for the first time. True, there are many firsts for her. Also true is that her favorite “toy” for the past two weeks has been the same toothbrush. Each time she finds it or is handed it, she checks it out anew. Seeing the colors. Running her fingers over the surfaces. Tasting the bristles (well, all of it actually). When is the last time you were fascinated (or even mildly interested) by a toothbrush?

And yet there is much to be interested in. Where do the bristles come from? What are they made of? Why bristles? How do I even know the word “bristles?” How do they get the bristles into the plastic? Why don’t they come out?

This is an example of the aptly named Zen teaching of “child’s mind” or “beginner’s mind.” It is something most of us experience far too seldom. Imagine the possibilities if everything was possible. Fresh. Novel. How much excitement, change, and creativity might this bring to your life?

Tagged: beginner’s mind, child’s mind, creativity, discovery, focus, inspiration, zen

Source: The Performance of Your Life

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Lean In

Lean In is a necessary read for anybody interested in performance and how to make our society more successful. Written by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, the book contains a great deal of wisdom and interesting anecdotes about women and the workforce. For example, she is the “female” COO of Facebook, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg is just CEO. There is no such thing as “male” CEO because this is viewed as the norm – and statistically it is.

Indeed, the statistics are frightening: women account for 21 of the Fortune 500 CEOs, 14% of executive officer positions, 17% of board seats, and 18% of elected congresspeople. Perhaps the most famous, and alarming, statistic is that women make less than men in equivalent positions. The numbers are worth repeating: in 1970 women in America made 59 cents for every dollar their male counterparts made. As of 2010, through all of our society’s reform and enlightenment, women make 77 cents for each dollar men make.

40 years and 18 cents.

How much better could our society perform if all contributions were valued equally?

Sandberg graciously focuses the book less on what men have done wrong and more on how we all can make steps to correct this injustice and ineffectiveness. It is an essential read for all of us interested in a higher performing society – women and especially men.

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The Signal and the Noise

The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver is an interesting read about why predictions fail and how they can improve. Using current and relevant examples such as the housing bubble/stock market crash, political elections, terrorism, poker, and athlete performance, Silver turns what may be a difficult of even dull subject (statistics) into one people can relate to. Relevant to performance, my favorite anecdote came from his experience as a poker player and interviewing expert poker players.

While skill certainly plays a role in success in poker, luck also has a significant impact – particularly over the short term. One of Silver’s main points throughout the book is that predictions necessarily deal with probability rather than certainty. Unfortunately, certainty is what gets you on TV and leads to many bad predictions that can have a big impact (for example, the housing bubble being exacerbated by financial analysts certain that real estate never goes down or certain that Bear Stearns is a great investment).

Due to the vast number of opportunities (every hand is a new opportunity) poker players have, they are able to see themselves play well and win, play well and lose, play bad and lose, and play bad and win. Therefore, they are able to see that process and results are two separate things. In the short run, good results can happen with a good or a bad process. However, over the long run focusing on going through the correct process will lead to much greater success.

Following the right process is not sexy, doesn’t always get you results in the short run, and is not what you are going to hear glamorized on TV. Yet, it is the only way to achieve sustained success over the long run in whatever your performance endeavor happens to be.

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On the plateau for 7 months and counting…

Of course, my daughter is learning the most complex skill any of us has ever learned: language. And it’s not for lack of trying (lately at 5 in the morning). She’s sticking with it though (as I write this, in fact). At times there is frustration, and even some crying, but no signs of wanting to give up yet. In fact, the frustration and crying seem to make her want to practice more.

There are also no signs that she is blaming herself, cursing herself (I guess that would be progress with her particular task), or comparing herself to others. This seems instructive.

 

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Natural Inspiration II

Ever wonder why your best ideas come to you in the shower? Or while you are out walking the dog?

It is at least partially due to the connection with nature you experience during these times.

The water in your shower is enough of a connection to spark creativity.

The fresh air and exercise on your walk is enough to shift your perspective.

These little doses offer a glimpse of what connecting with nature has to offer.

Try going to a national park, isolated beach, or mountain summit and see what the full dosage has to offer you.

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Curious? II

Another interesting quote from Todd Kashdan’s book:

“Many prodigies in a wide variety of disciplines start off by playing music, writing poetry, or shooting hoops because it feels good, but this pleasure is often obliterated by the pressure to succeed. Basically, when curiosity and interest disappear, the benefits go with them.” (p. 37)

Although few of us are prodigies, most of us can probably relate to the inherent pleasure of an activity at times (or often) being undermined (or overwhelmed) by a focus on results. (I believe it is the focus on results, not this kind of success, that Kashdan is talking about)

Do you think the golfer that is cursing at his clubs starting golfing as a way to increase his anger or because he enjoyed figuring out why it is so hard to hit the ball straight?

Did the doctor that is now rolling her eyes at her patient choose the profession hoping to be jaded by people or because she was interested in helping others and solving mysterious ailments?

Reconnecting with the curiosity that led to our professions and performance domains can help us reclaim what we found to be so interesting about them in the first place. And then you’ll perform better, just as when you first became curious. And then you’ll be more likely to get caught up in results….only this time maybe you’ll remember that curiosity is what allowed the results to happen in the first place. Isn’t that curious?

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Natural Inspiration

Feeling stagnant? Stuck in a rut? Experiencing writer’s block? Waiting for the last minute?

Try getting out in nature. While you are there, focus on the feelings of peacefulness, content, bliss, and wonder that spontaneously arise in you.

And if these feelings don’t arise, get out in nature more.

If you do, chances are you’ll find yourself more relaxed, energized, and creative.

Evidence? I wrote this and the next three posts this morning – after hiking all day yesterday.

The trick is to immerse yourself in nature. If you go solely for the purpose of stimulating creativity and spend the entire time stuck in your head, you’ll probably be frustrated.

If you are able to go and relax and appreciate nature, chances are you’ll find yourself able to look at things from a new perspective, with new possibilities, when you return home and your mind naturally shifts back to the problems you are working on.

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Curious?

A great quote on curiosity as an engine for growth from the book Curious? by Todd Kashdan (p. 19-20).

By being curious, we explore.

By exploring, we discover.

When this is satisfying, we are more likely to repeat it.

By repeating it, we develop competence and mastery.

By developing competence and mastery, our knowledge and skills grow.

As our knowledge and skills grow, we stretch and expand who we are and what our life is about.

By dealing with novelty, we become more experienced and intelligent, and infuse our lives with meaning.

When is the last time you approached your performance with true curiosity? If you haven’t been genuinely surprised, fascinated, or engaged with your performance lately, see if you can bring an attitude of curiosity back into it. What do you find most interesting or enjoyable about your performance? How has this changed over the years? When is the last time you learned something new about your performance? When is the last time you gave yourself credit for learning something new about your performance?

Curiosity and mindfulness go hand in hand, and both are the opposite of bored, stagnant, and disinterested. If you are curious, you will be more mindful. If you are mindful, you will be more curious.

And in either state it is impossible to be bored because you will notice the nuance, the difference, the uniqueness of each moment.

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Playing Forward

One of the greatest sport psychology minds in the world and one of my mentors, Dr. Keith Henschen, believes that the ability to play forward is an important skill that distinguishes elite performers. To play forward means that you are focused on what is happening in the present and one or two moves in the future. It is learning not to dwell on mistakes or errors during competition. There will be plenty of time to analyze errors following the competition, and this is a necessary step in the process of performance excellence. Yet at the time of competition all that matters is getting out your best at the next opportunity.

How often has your performance spiraled downward because you were caught dwelling on one mistake?

Practice playing forward and see if you can become more resilient at staying focused on the task at hand.

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Confident like a kid

When did you stop being confident in yourself?

For far too many of us, we may not even be able to remember.

I live in a neighborhood with many kids from newborn babies to early teens, and two things stand out:

1) The youngest kids are full of confidence, and

2) The older kids quickly begin to lose their confidence

The first statement begs the question, “How do you know a baby has confidence?” Because they are willing to try anything. That is confidence. When it doesn’t go right? They try again.

Older kids begin to lose this as they (and those around them) quickly move from accepting any attempt as a positive to judging and evaluating the quality and nature of the attempt as good or bad. And the scary thing is when I say “older” I’m talking less than 2 years old for many kids.

The young kids understand the true meaning of confidence. It is not about where you have been or where you are trying to get to, it is the willingness to accept yourself as you are.

Confidence literally means “with trust” or being true to oneself. Accepting yourself as you are gives you the willingness to try new things without the risk of your attempts being “good” or “bad.”

As with kids, your confidence does not (and should not) have to come from your past successes or failures.

Confidence does not have to mean you believe you will have success in the future.

It is simply accepting yourself where you are right now and being willing to accept that this means sometimes things will work out the way you want them to and sometimes they won’t.

And in either case you try again.