Category: General Interest

The technique of it is this:
First you decide the product you wish to obtain.
Then you do. (Perform actions towards attaining that product.)
As a result of repeated and improved doing (or drilling if you are practicing to do) you acquire competence.
As a result of your competence, you become confident.

Most fear to do because they lack confidence.
But as the above sequence illustrates, that is wrong way to.

So a motto to apply in any area of life you wish to conquer is simply:

Decide the product,
Start to do,
Refine and do,
Accept coaching and do,
Continue to improve your do,
Until you are a Competent, Confident you!

The problem is we are not oriented to the amount of time it takes to drill and perfect our doingnesses to the point of extreme competence. So most give up well before they atain extreme competence. We look at someone really skilled at an action but do not see the enormous investment of time it took to gain that proficiency.

I read an article once that reported on a survey of all sorts of activities: sports, instrument playing etc. that found it took 10,000 hours to become world class at something.

This is one reason I encourage people to find their basic purpose in life and spend more and more time on that. It is a lot easier to persist through plateaus and difficulties let alone overcome serious obstacles if you are working on your basic purpose.

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer,
he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, “Excuse me, where are we?”

“This is Heaven, sir.” the man answered.

“Would you happen to have some water?” the man asked.

“Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up.” The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

“Can my friend,” gesturing toward his dog, “come in, too?” the traveller asked.

“I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t accept pets.”

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

“Excuse me!” he called to the man. “Do you have any water?”

“Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there, come on in.”

“How about my friend here?” the traveller gestured to the dog.

There should be a bowl by the pump.”

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The traveller filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

“What do you call this place?” the traveller asked.

“This is Heaven,” he answered.

“Well, that’s confusing,” the traveller said, “the man down the road said that was Heaven, too.”

“Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That’s hell.”

“Doesn’t it make you mad for them to use your name like that?”

“No, we’re just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.”

~Anonymous Author and Artwork

Please share this to remind me of it from time to time please.