Sunday Story…Can

Not should.

Just because I can doesn’t mean I should. There are lots of things in the world I Can do. Every day I am presented with a myriad of choices of things I can do. Most of them, not only Can I do but I Should do. There are, however a bunch of them I Can do but absolutely Should NOT do!

How do you know what I should or should not do? What’s the mechanism for making sure I am doing what I Can and Should do?

You might start with the worst-case scenario. I can do X and the worst thing that might happen is Y. Y isn’t too bad, I can live with Y, it isn’t going to affect my day to day life too terribly much and probably isn’t going to happen anyway. On the other hand, if Y happens my life is going to change and not for the better. Easy decision there, right? Don’t do X if though you can!

I call this “doing the math.” When I sit down and figure out all the likely outcomes from any given activity I am in the process of deciding what I Should do. And if the math is in my favor then go ahead…you Can and you Should. If the math indicates the outcome might change your life unfavorably (the likelihood of death for instance), Don’t Do It!!! Doing the math is way cheaper than the alternative.

"Good judgment comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgment"

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

Sunday Story…More “P”s

I often wonder about those huge water towers we see all over the landscape. Are they really full of water? Does it ever get used? When? How? Why?

The why is puzzling…I mean we have a pretty good system for water delivery for the most part and it just seems that pumping water up to a tower only to let it feedback down is remarkably inefficient.

On closer inspection, however, the necessary energy expenditure to meet the demand when all of us need water at the same time is waaaay bigger than the expenditure needed to send that water up to the top of the tower. So it is more efficient to do it that way.

Guess what? Planning ahead makes getting the job done consistently and efficiently way easier. Just like practicing your bar muscle-ups is more efficient than trying to figure it out on game day! Just like doing the progressions to get any skill perfected makes more sense than just trying to do the skill.

You can’t learn to drive by hopping into a race car that goes 200mph…you will just learn to crash! We learn to drive in an empty parking lot at 5mph and eventually we figure out how to go 200mph. There’s a bunch of stuff in life like this (most, actually)…proper planning (as well as preparation) also prevents poor performance!

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

Sunday Story…Good and Better

Perfection may be the ideal we are all striving for but the facts are simple…perfection is so rare as to be non-existent. If we refuse to do anything until it is perfect nothing is going to get done. We need to accept good enough sometimes.

Sometimes you have to just put your work out there. It’s at a completion point. It isn’t perfect. It is a work in progress. It is going to need some tweaks, some adjustments, and some course corrections. Then we will do it again and go back and make adjustments again. And so on and so on until we move to the next project.

Good enough isn’t perfect. But it is good enough. Your heroes aren’t perfect…it is in their non-perfection that we find their humanity. The flawed human that finds heroism lurking under the surface of their broken existence. Nothing is perfect…not your relationship, your religion, your culture…none of it is perfect. It is all flawed in some way.

Are you afraid of your non-perfection? Are you ashamed of it? In denial about it? Hiding your imperfections? Finding the things that are less than perfect are easy…they are everywhere. And once found it is easy to criticize and condemn them for their imperfections.

It might be more productive to find what is good, what is working, what is beautiful (though flawed) in whatever you are looking at. We can improve on it. We can embrace the imperfections and smooth out the blemishes, take the imperfections and exploit them to improve and be better.

Good enough is a way to get better. Don’t waste it waiting on perfect.

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

Sunday Story…Apply

Sometimes we need to work in a consistent manner. Over and over the same thing, the same way. This is how we build the skills that will take us into the next thing.

It is in that next thing that the magic lays...the magic that is the ability to surf the ever-changing wave. Without the proper skill set, I will fall off the board before I get to enjoy the ride. That will create frustration as I fall again and again. I need to practice the fundamentals and basic skills so I can find my way through unknown and changing terrain.

You need to walk before you can run. And before you can walk you need to have balancing skills. You got those skills by falling down over and over…relentlessly. Any task in an ever-changing environment will be based first on the skills necessary to navigate the task and then the mindfulness to enjoy the ride.

Finding our way through unknown territory is not training, it is the application of training.

Learn first. Then train over and over. Lastly apply, apply, apply. And most of all…enjoy the process. It is in the journey, in the effort that joy resides.

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

Sunday Story…Annoyances

In the movie, “Dumb and Dumber” there is a scene where Jim Carrey demonstrated the most annoying noise in the world. And, as you might expect, it is pretty annoying. But, to be honest, why? Why do I want to be annoyed? Is there a measure to be more annoyed or is there a limit to how annoyed one can get?

I mean we go to the gym to get more fit, we eat right to be healthier, and we go to yoga to find some calm…so do we get to work on our annoy-ability? I think not. None of us want to be annoyed or more annoyed. Being annoyed is a symptom, a side effect of something else. A mosquito in my bedroom is an annoyance, a side effect of allowing a pest into my space. The solution is simple…chase the pest out.

There is no mileage in being annoyed. You don’t get to go to the world championships of annoyance. We don’t hold up the most annoyed people as heroes and we certainly don’t laud the annoying. If anything we do everything we can to eliminate annoyances and annoying people.

The lesson in the annoyance is in solving the problem not wallowing about in the annoying pool. Solve the problem. Being annoyed is a waste of time and energy.

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

Sunday Story…The 6 “P”s

Proper planning prevents piss-poor performance. In other words, plan your work and work your plan.

This is true of your diet, your workouts, and your rest. It is also true pretty much everywhere in your life. When we plan and plan properly (not ragtag) our performance will be better than if we just wing it.

Do you have a plan for:
Your relationship(s)
Your career
Your personal growth
Your education
Your life?

Most people spend more time planning their television watching than they do planning for their food, exercise or education. What will you read next year? What did you read this year that furthered your plan? What did you learn, what will you learn?

We all have goals. Some of us even write them down. Research has shown time and again that writing things down creates an imprint. That imprint provides the impetus for a plan. That plan lays the groundwork for success. An old axiom is this…If you fail to plan you plan to fail. If you don’t prepare food for the week your food plan will fall apart in short order. If you show up at the gym with no idea of what your plan is I guarantee your workout isn’t going to be a good as it should be…good thing someone else does that here for you!

Set a goal.
Make a plan.
Execute the said plan.
Adjust for results (good and bad).
Repeat.

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

Sunday Story…Growth and Attention

Most of us have plants in our immediate world. Maybe indoors, maybe outdoors but you have plants somewhere in your life. Those plants require some attention to thrive…light, water, maybe some fertilizer, and a new pot once in a while.

Guess what? The rest of your life is like that too. Finances? You need to look at your accounts and make sure they are growing in the direction you want. Health? I definitely need to see a doctor regularly, eat right, work out, and avoid obviously dangerous pursuits. Relationships need to be nurtured and valued. Leaving everything to chance might work but then again it might not. If you don’t pay attention and things go sideways you won’t know what to change to improve things.

We often talk about measuring things to manage them. If I don’t know when the last time I watered my plants was, it will be hard to know when they need water again. And the real problem is that when I realize my error it may be too late to save them.

You wouldn’t want your bank account to die off due to lack of water, would you? How about your personal relationships? How often do we see people splitting up because one or both partners have allowed the relationship to become moribund and root bound?

Active attention will help everything to thrive…your relationships, your money, and your health. Why wouldn’t you focus on what you want to see grow? It seems like a no-brainer to me!

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