I like the post-aha-moment awareness but the moment itself can be painful and humbling.
We were watching “The Biggest Loser” with our son and the effort we saw was inspiring. We talked about how level of commitment is reflected in results.
I recalled the quote: “the way you do anything is the way you do everything.” I realized, to my horror, that I do not put forth great effort; my walk does not reflect my talk (and fuck it, that pisses me off!) Now, don’t get me wrong, I do not believe I have to put forth 100% in everything every time but (and it’s a big but) if I say something is important to me then surely my walk (effort) should reflect that more often than not, right?
I decided to start another experiment…what is I were to raise my effort just 5 or 10%…what might happen in my world? Even 5% may be too ambitious; according to Dave Brailsford, “… if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into [riding a bike], and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together”
Dave was coach of the British cycling team who guided his athletes to Olympic gold and a Tour de France win. He achieved this by changing many habits by 1% – sleep, nutrition, pillow, personal hygiene, and of course training.
A little later I was fortunate to receive another lesson, a gentle whisper on the fresh morning air: “Maybe it is not about effort, maybe it’s about source”.
Truth always whispers.
Maybe I could focus more on the source of my desire to succeed and put forth 1% more effort. What if I were to experiment and do anything (and everything) from a place of love and compassion? What might that manifest?
Anything, and everything… with love, compassion and 1% more. now that I can wrap my head around.
- Walking the dogs
- Cooking the dinner
- Phone call with customer service
- Exercising at the gym
We all have areas of our lives we want to change and often those desired changes are enormous. At fifty, we realize we are behind with retirement savings and instead of beginning to save that day we throw our hands up and do nothing. The weighing scales shows a higher number and in despair we console ourselves with a glass of wine or large mocha. Stress is affecting health and instead of walking outside at lunchtime we shove a sandwich in our mouths while continuing to work at our desk.
We all do it, in one form or another.
1% sounds so insignificant but it depends on how you look at it.:
- 1% of a $75k salary is $750. Saved every year for 15 years at the average stock market return yields almost $22k at age 65.
- With an average caloric intake of 2000/per day lowered by 1% = 1lb lost every 18 days. 20lbs in a year. Add a 1% walk (14 mins/day) and that’s another 10lb/year.
- 1% of stress reduction practices (14 mins/day) lowers blood pressure, improves sleep, clears brain fog and boosts the immune system.
1% is a good place to start. And tap into truth; it takes us places we could never go alone.
Lawquii says
Love this! Thanx for the inspiration 🙂 gonna try do the same thing 🙂 keep it up!
Lesley says
Yay! A fellow-traveler and doer-of-experiments. Can’t wait to hear your experience 🙂