Thursday, June 29, 2023

Practice Makes Perfect? No, But It Does Make It Better

One of the things I try to avoid online is visiting self-improvement websites. They've almost become a cult of people who endorse toxic positivity. Pretending that everything is fun and games is simply absurd. Of course, everyone should try and improve themselves, but not in the way the culture promotes -- i.e., invalidating any other reality than a positive one. Yet it's equally horrible when we simply plateau and never make any improvements in our lives. My philosophy is: Go out and live and don't obsess with improving your life without living it. In my opinion, self improvement means growing as a human being mentally, physically, and spiritually. It's about learning to deal with the ups and downs of life and being content in your own skin. It's about seeing where you're lacking, finding solutions to it, making those changes, and building good habits. 

As a novice lifter, one of the things I am constantly doing is taking short videos of my exercises and then running them by my trainer. You learn by doing, by making mistakes. During pull ups, for example, my concentric is way too fast. 

During dumbbell curls, I can't seem to balance my right side with my left side -- one side always seems asymmetrical. That's why practice is so necessary. 

We should spend about 20 percent of our time learning and 80 percent of our time practicing what we learn. We can get so stuck in reading books by lifters or watching videos about lifting that we never actually apply the knowledge we are absorbing. Only when I was able to put more effort and time into actually doing the work instead of learning how to do it did I start to improve and find more enjoyment out of it. Basically, you should DO, not only plan. 

Appreciate the life you're living, and enjoy improving at things in it. But remember: self improvement is best suited for people who take ACTION.