This is a concept that’s been touched on here but to bring it up again and shed more light on this - in the story of Alexander the Great, he led his army to battle and knew that a solar eclipse was coming. Although he knew there was no basis for the claim he was about to make, he got his army in on the rumor he decided to tell the enemy army. They spread to the opposing side who lacked the knowledge to verify the claim that the eclipse signifies that they would undoubtedly lose and that their battle would be futile. This struck a seed of doubt into the opposing side, which played upon their self-belief and they wound up losing the battle.
Not only does this give a clear display of how powerful knowledge is, but it shows how a lack of knowledge can be used against somebody. It shows the power of belief and doubt.
As I was reading to my kid tonight, he’s been reaching a higher reading level every time he’s tested. It’s impressive. We got to a page in a joke book with tongue twisters and we started messing around and reading them, messing up our words and what not. He couldn’t read some of these very well, then when we went to go read a full story - he was messing up his words like with the tongue twisters and it took him a second to get back on track. I could tell he was doubting some of his reading capabilities after not being able to nail something more difficult. It’s not something we’re always conscious of.
I was always taught that when really mastering a new skill, you -always- end on a strong note and don’t push past your level too hard. You can experiment but when you’re mastering something it’s step by step. You’re hitting all the marks and groups you want at the end of your shooting practice so to speak, but then you start taking advantage of this streak and start failing. The next time you go to start up again, your accuracy is likely to be weaker because the doubt you were left with at the end of your session and your mind and body pick back up on the lack of accuracy.
The person that taught me this was accepted to the Olympic pre-trials and chose not to go, but he took #1 state champion for a decade in a row.
I’m always acutely aware of this and so I like to push outside of my boundaries, especially with creativity. But I still reach these points where I’m going too far, and it takes a minute to backtrack a certain skill. When you’re learning a new skill or subject, your teachers accuracy and abilities are also important. This is not only key for sports but meditation and anything you really want to get good at.
I was just re-reminded of this recently and thought it was worth sharing. My precision in what I do for work so important and so I go back to this. The more you excel in a skill and practice trial and error, let the successes stick you grow in confidence in many areas of life. When I was learning for my job, I had to learn where I could push myself and where I couldn’t. Sometimes it got very messy, errors aren’t a small deal and they’re usually permanent.
On that note too, I’ve also wanted to say that - and especially for women - people are afraid to climb higher in life and enter into an area of life that carries harsh consequences for mistakes. Allow yourself a position like this if you are more knowledgeable than someone else doing it. Someone has to do it, and better you than someone else who cares less. Understand that mistakes are a part of life, and it’s better to shoot and miss than not shoot at all. You learn on the job. There is no other way than this to become more than what you are. Balance and forward motion. I say women because there are now a lot of women who want to climb higher OR have no other choice. They don’t know how to get past certain things though and typically would rather lay low.
Not only does this give a clear display of how powerful knowledge is, but it shows how a lack of knowledge can be used against somebody. It shows the power of belief and doubt.
As I was reading to my kid tonight, he’s been reaching a higher reading level every time he’s tested. It’s impressive. We got to a page in a joke book with tongue twisters and we started messing around and reading them, messing up our words and what not. He couldn’t read some of these very well, then when we went to go read a full story - he was messing up his words like with the tongue twisters and it took him a second to get back on track. I could tell he was doubting some of his reading capabilities after not being able to nail something more difficult. It’s not something we’re always conscious of.
I was always taught that when really mastering a new skill, you -always- end on a strong note and don’t push past your level too hard. You can experiment but when you’re mastering something it’s step by step. You’re hitting all the marks and groups you want at the end of your shooting practice so to speak, but then you start taking advantage of this streak and start failing. The next time you go to start up again, your accuracy is likely to be weaker because the doubt you were left with at the end of your session and your mind and body pick back up on the lack of accuracy.
The person that taught me this was accepted to the Olympic pre-trials and chose not to go, but he took #1 state champion for a decade in a row.
I’m always acutely aware of this and so I like to push outside of my boundaries, especially with creativity. But I still reach these points where I’m going too far, and it takes a minute to backtrack a certain skill. When you’re learning a new skill or subject, your teachers accuracy and abilities are also important. This is not only key for sports but meditation and anything you really want to get good at.
I was just re-reminded of this recently and thought it was worth sharing. My precision in what I do for work so important and so I go back to this. The more you excel in a skill and practice trial and error, let the successes stick you grow in confidence in many areas of life. When I was learning for my job, I had to learn where I could push myself and where I couldn’t. Sometimes it got very messy, errors aren’t a small deal and they’re usually permanent.
On that note too, I’ve also wanted to say that - and especially for women - people are afraid to climb higher in life and enter into an area of life that carries harsh consequences for mistakes. Allow yourself a position like this if you are more knowledgeable than someone else doing it. Someone has to do it, and better you than someone else who cares less. Understand that mistakes are a part of life, and it’s better to shoot and miss than not shoot at all. You learn on the job. There is no other way than this to become more than what you are. Balance and forward motion. I say women because there are now a lot of women who want to climb higher OR have no other choice. They don’t know how to get past certain things though and typically would rather lay low.
