Sunday Story…EDD

Every. Day. Duty. Or... Every. Damn. Day.

Years ago when I began my journey to CrossFit competition, Jim Fitzsimmons the Crossfit coach at the University of Nevada, Reno told me if I wanted to really “get” my double unders they needed to be EDD…everyday duty. So that’s what I did. Every day I practiced double unders for 5 minutes. Eventually I “got” them and got good at them as well.

What are you doing every day that builds a new skill or a new asset or a new bit of creativity that belongs to you? I own double unders now. It took quite a few days but eventually they became mine.

Every day I write. That little bit of work becomes my duty every damn day. Every day I get a little better at putting words to paper. Every day I increase the value of that asset (the writing asset).

Every day I work out. That commitment to my fitness is my duty every day. It is part and parcel of what I own. Every day I get a little more fit. My fitness is an asset I want to increase the value of.

What assets are you trying to increase? What did you do today to increase that value? Whether it is intellectual property, personal property, or financial property the increase in value is an Every Day Duty.

Small efforts done consistently over a long period of time yield large results.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com

Sunday Story…Find Your

Center and extend from there. Then return to center. Extend and return. Lather rinse and repeat.

So how do you find your center and how will you know when you do?

Your center is the place where everything is right with the world. You are calm when you are there. The world is right. When life is flowing and seems effortless you are centered. The opposite is true as well…when you are struggling and it feels like everything you do is swimming against the current you may not be centered. This could be because you are trying to get somewhere or something that is outside your current zone of comfort. That’s OK. Remember we are extending from center. When the scales are balanced nothing is moving…there is no effort against the tide since you aren’t going anywhere.

When we start from center we are beginning with the end in mind. It is our intention to return to center even if we bring a new perspective and attitude with us. We can extend out; reach past our comfort zone in order to achieve the goals we want to achieve. Then we return to center and begin to look for a new target.

Your center is your “happy” place. It also the place that fuels your desires and has you see your goals in the distance. If you live a life constantly outside of center you will find it difficult to achieve very much. The old saying about seeing the forest for the trees applies here.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com
775-338-2412
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Sunday Story…The Scales

Of Life have a tendency to move up and down. Rarely are they perfectly balanced. After all, when they are balanced there is no motion at all…everything is perfectly still and in stasis. The problem with balance is there is no place for movement. When the scale is centered I can’t go forward or back or even side to side.

If I want to do something I am going to have to move the scale to one side or the other. Sometimes we move the scale because it’s time….time to raise the kids, time to focus on the career or relationship or time to relax and reset after a period of intense focus.

Sometimes I move the scale purposefully. I make a decision to push all the weight to one side and do what is on that side and nothing else. Often, though, this is at the expense of all the other things on the other side of the scale. If I spend too long in the singular pursuit of a thing in complete abandonment to everything else the scales could end up permanently broken.

Depending on what you want it may be better to move the scale back and forth shifting the emphasis back and forth or in several different directions, always coming back to center, to stasis. In other words whatever your concentration be single-minded and focused. Don’t multitask your concentration.

Do what you are doing. Finish that and go do the other thing.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Scarcity vs. Connection

In our daily interactions with the people around us, we don’t often think in terms of winners and losers. We usually think about the connection we have.

But in my interactions with the car dealer or the jeweler, we often find ourselves in a “zero-sum” game. If I give too much I lose. The converse is true as well. If she gives too much she loses.

What if there was only a mutually beneficial transaction? What if there was no fear of losing, of being “taken?” And, conversely, what if there was no joy in winning, in being “on top?” What would be left?

In today’s world connection is King. I can be connected or I can be right. It is difficult to be both. Transactions based on connection, reliability, and confidence far outweigh those transactions built only to satisfy someone else’s narcissistic need to win at all and any costs.

Choose connection.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…political discourse

These days is almost impossible. It seems that having an actual discussion…a give and take, a back and forth based on facts, figures, proof, science, effectiveness, or correctness has disappeared. That discussion has been replaced with intractable positions based on tribalism.

In this discussion, people don’t care about the facts. Facts are not the point at all. The answer is always “no” if the question comes down to changing your mind. You are so bound to your position that you will go to your grave before you free yourself from the mast of self-righteousness.

The subject doesn’t matter. The conflict is what counts and I never want to lose. Changing my mind, shifting my position is losing. And I may lose my tribe if I shift or change so we all go down with the ship.

This is why so many of us refrain from “talking politics” (or religion). There is little or no room for a reasoned exchange of ideas revolving around the facts. And the more things we call “political” the less we have to talk about. And the less opportunity any of us have to learn and grow and understand one another.

We can argue if we want. But if we want to move forward we must be willing to listen. And that means accepting we might have to shift our position.

Tribalism serves the tribe. Serve a bigger ideal.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
Coming soon: www.johnmariotti.com
775-338-2412