Sunday Story…The Tyranny of Authenticity

Is it Authentic? What makes it so? Why does it matter?

Is that little hole in the wall restaurant more authentic than the big national chain? Why? Does having an ethnic looking clientele make one place more authentic than another? What happens when I go to an Asian restaurant and all the cooks are Latino? Authentic or not?

I know people who think that an Italian restaurant that does not offer canoli it isn’t authentic. My mother learned to cook Italian at the apron strings of my Italian grandmothers and aunts. I still haven’t seen her make canoli. She does however make a mean biscotti! I have made canoli (it’s a serious pain in the butt!) but never biscotti so am I more authentic than my mother?

Authentic is an excuse you are using to justify your position. I only do this if it is authentic. I won’t go there…it isn’t authentic. Maybe authentic isn’t the right question.

Maybe a better question is…is it good? Or is it right? Or do I feel good about it? Authentic is what you make of it and what I consider authentic may not agree with your definition. But we should be able to agree on what is right and good.

Don’t be held hostage by the tyranny of authentic. Free yourself to enjoy the things you enjoy…authentic or not.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Success isn’t Permanent

And Failure isn’t Fatal. Yet both things feel as if they might be.

We get uncomfortable and, as a small child, think it is the “new normal.” That this discomfort is going to last forever. It isn’t. It will last for some period of time and then it will be over. The question is whether or not you will quit. Whether or not you will accept the fact that this uncomfortableness will end soon.

Sometimes when everything is going along swimmingly we get complacent and think this is the “new normal.” That everything will always be coming up roses and we can get a little lazy with our resources, our squander our goodwill because there is always more. Success isn’t permanent and if you think it is you will be quickly disabused of that notion.

Other times it looks like nothing is going to work and you will be forever stuck in the rut you are currently in. All of your present difficulties will be forever yours. Failure isn’t fatal and you are never stuck in one place.

Like most things, if you believe it, it will most probably come to pass. If you believe one of those things then you don’t have to stay engaged, you don’t have to fight through the failure or the discomfort or keep improving your success.

It might be hard (or easy) but it isn’t forever.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Avoidance is not

The answer.

I am not great at everything. Actually, I am not great at a lot of things. You could even say I am great at very few things. My level of competence is what it is…until I decide to do something about it.

That is the question: What will I do about those places where I am not great? What will I do about the places where I don’t have the will, desire, or commitment to become great?

I suppose I could utilize the head in the sand ploy. You know the one…you ignore your incompetence. Do whatever it is poorly, hope no one notices, and pretend you didn’t do it so badly.

Or you could go head to head. Face your incompetence with zeal and enthusiasm. Talk about it. Look for resources that will increase your competence. Find someone or a band of someones who will support and challenge you to get better. Look for new and better ways to get where you want to be.

The first choice…avoidance…is never going to increase your competence. At least in the second, you are pretending to be more grown up.

Want competence? Face the facts, look for answers, do the work. Simple, not easy.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The Snooze Button

Is not your friend. It is a trap, a flawed strategy to attempt to re-use time. In other words you have decided to decide later which is a decision in and of itself. And that decision cost you time and energy only to decide later.

Your alarm has a snooze button. Rather than arise you hit the button, thus putting off the inevitable…after all you are going to get up sooner or later. Your decision to decide later has consequences. Maybe you will oversleep and be late, maybe you will have to skip your shower or your breakfast. That decision creates a cascade of other choices that may no longer be available because of that first, seemingly minor decision, to hit the snooze.

It isn’t as if you need more information…you need to get out of bed. Sometimes putting off the decision makes sense when you need or are going to get more data to help with that decision.

Decide once and move on. Open the email, respond, and discard…let it go from your consciousness. Otherwise it ends up on an ever-growing pile of decisions you decided to make later.

Later is now. In or out, yes or no, move on…it is a habit. Snooze is not your friend. Jettison it!

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412