Exercises

More basics with Michael Jordan, Ray Allen, and Kobe Bryant: more simple and valuable than you think

Education / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Tips

More basics with Michael Jordan, Ray Allen, and Kobe Bryant: more simple and valuable than you think

Following up yesterday's post, "The basics: more simple and valuable than you think" about how the masters tend to focus on basics, I found a series of videos made by a great basketball player, Michael Jordan. He's made few instructional videos. He could do things no one else could and made them look easy. He can teach anything he wants. So what does he teach? Simple basics. Things like getting rest, eating well, exercising, footwork, how to hold the basketball, listening to music before the game to focus on the game, where you look, and things like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Mri8XE078 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5V70KaRHek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtwP1wK0Vjk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA93VUiVSpQ That's a few videos of a series. Click here for a list of with more of these videos. Here's another video by another…

May 5, 2015

The basics: more simple and valuable than you think

Art / Audio / Education / Exercises

The basics: more simple and valuable than you think

When I teach and coach basics, someone in the audience always wants to know about some advanced application of the material. I understand why they ask. When you're learning the footwork to dance salsa, you really want to do the fancy spin moves, so you ask about that. The great dancers concentrate on their footwork, though. The masters seem always to suggest sticking with the basics. I find that the more advanced someone's skills, the more they stick with the basics. A movie came out recently about a piano teacher, Seymour Bernstein, who I heard was a great master but stopped performing to teach piano. I think he teaches at NYU so maybe I'll meet him. I've heard people say he's an incredible teacher. What…

May 4, 2015

Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Exercises / Fitness / Habits

You have the same potential for passion as anyone

Following up on "Passions, you create," which I recommend rereading, where I wrote about passion not being something you happen to find, like if you just turned over enough rocks you'd find it... Everyone has the same potential to develop passions, as far as I can tell. If all you do is turn over rocks but never dig in---that is, look at what others do and think about those things without trying yourself---you can convince yourself you don't have passions, that somehow you're different and unlucky compared to those. That's just your opinion. They worked hard and persevered through challenges that if you did you'd find as much passion within you as they did. You'll try things you end up not liking and give them…

April 21, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Run on solid ground

Why do I talk about my daily habits so much? I was talking to a friend yesterday about them. She told me she didn't get to exercise as much as she'd like, especially in busy times, and asked how I found time to exercise and write every day. I asked how she got anything done without a daily routine. A daily routine gives you and your day structure. Losing that structure, makes it easier to lose track of your values, rushing to do whatever apparently important thing appears before you, doing a lot of work, getting little done. I call that blowing in the breeze. A daily routine that forces you to think puts things in perspective by giving you standard criteria to measure other…

April 8, 2015

The great masters of speaking with authentic voices

Awareness / Exercises / Freedom / Humor / Leadership

The great masters of speaking with authentic voices

Following up yesterday's post's exercise for how to speak authentically, I wanted to give a couple more examples illustrating mastery of speaking authentically. People who speak authentically can say things others can't, meaning they have more freedom. We respect them not for their technical mastery of some craft but that they speak without that. A great master today is Charles Barkley, whom I wrote about the other day. He's famous for speaking about race, sex, class, and other topics many people lose their jobs for, yet people don't condemn him. They recognize he's sharing something about himself, not imposing his values on others. He leads people to accept him instead of judging him. The video below shows a different authenticity. Note the vulnerability he shows…

March 25, 2015

Awareness / Education / Exercises / Leadership

Your authentic voice

For a leader to speak with an authentic voice adds to their credibility and ability to influence. So how do you learn to speak more authentically? I've been leading clients through a method that has worked with each of them for years. It works, and a lot more effectively than someone telling you principles to follow. Nothing works like experience. Most people's fear of saying something they'll regret inhibits them from speaking authentically. Holding back makes you sound inauthentic, but not holding back risks saying something you think you shouldn't, like that you hate someone. Yet we admire people who speak without holding back. How do they do it without losing their jobs? I designed this exercise to have you practice on the smallest scale…

March 24, 2015

Awareness / Exercises / Perception

A reader comments on why people associate empathy with feeling down

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post, "Why do people always associate empathy with feeling down?" on a topic I've explored before---that people associate empathy with feelings people don't like. I find that association counterproductive and missing many feelings people can share. A reader wrote about how the post reminded her of her childhood. What she wrote echoed something I hear at my seminars when I talk about others trying to help them when the person trying to help doesn't understand them and ends up not helping, which is people's parents. She grew up wary of empathizing with people, in part because of similar associations. She learned to associate empathy with other people roping you into their problems, something I don't think anyone would…

March 23, 2015

Freedom, from speech

Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs

Freedom, from speech

You have opinions about race, sex, homosexuality, class, politics, and other controversial topics. You probably only talk about them with people closest to you. Most of us won't touch them with a ten-foot pole, knowing how one public statement can destroy a life. We believe we don't have that freedom. If you don't believe you have it, you can't do it. How about talking about them to the media for twenty years and being loved for it. That's freedom. This article about Charles Barkley described him as Off the court, where he spun quotes and welcomed controversy, Barkley was arguably the most interesting and influential athlete of his time — maybe since Ali. While others packaged themselves as though they were just another product to…

March 21, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Calmness, focus, determination, and presence—an easy way to increase them

A reader who decided to take on a month of cold showers updated me half way through. Note how the benefits endure for a long time and affect many parts of her life while the discomfort lasts only a few minutes. That's a great trade if you ask me. Here's what she wrote: So far, so good.Â I'm not sure I had any specific expectations regarding the experience to start.Â I just wanted to challenge myself because I feel "stuck" at times.Â These are the things I've noticed or thought so far. I don't get myself worked up prior to jumping in.Â Translation---worrying about something isn't going to change the outcome.Â Face challenges head on. I have thought about how awesome that warm birthday shower…

March 16, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

A reader takes on cold showers

[This post is part of a series on Cold Showers. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view that series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] I got this email from a reader this morning: This caught my eye this morning. Watched the video. I'm accepting the 30 day challenge which will conveniently end the day before my 46th birthday. responding to yesterday's newsletter about yesterday's post, "Close to cold shower record". I presume she referred to the video in "An inspirational SIDCHA video". I first thought of how exciting it was for someone to take up the challenge. Then I thought about how February is probably the coldest water month. I did my…

February 25, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Close to cold shower record

[This post is part of a series on Cold Showers. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view that series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] I don't remember posting about cold showers in a while. I'm still taking them, now every fourth day, which I call a sidcha, even though not daily. I consider it regular enough. Today's water temperature was 41.5 degrees (5.3 C), close to my record of 39.9 degrees. It's hard to take a shower that cold without writing about it. I do it every fourth day because I like warm showers as much as anyone. When I take my warm showers, I can't believe I take cold showers, feeling…

February 24, 2015

Why readers like my fast posts

A reader suggested an answer that made sense for why people like my fast articles---"Why do readers like the posts I write the fastest so much?"---that they may result from my Voice Your Self-Talk exercise. I love that exercise, though it's one of my harder social skill exercises. Clients who try it take a long time to get it and I don't think you can if you don't do the "Most effective self-awareness exercise I know," but it's incredibly effective when you get it working. As the reader put it, "to see people's response to it; it was like, they were instantly and enthusiastically connecting and responding to what I was saying to them". Read about the exercise here, with examples: Communications skills exercises, part…

February 14, 2015

Exercises / Models

New series: Mental models, beliefs, and an exercise to identify and change yours

I finally compiled the series of posts that became my book ReModel. I reordered and edited everything for the book for reading and learning, but most of the text is here. Click here to go to the series. The series describes and expands around an exercise to write your mental models and beliefs. I've found the exercise helpful for increasing your awareness---your mental models and beliefs influence your perception of everything, which influences how you feel and react, which influences others. Few skills influence your perception and lifestyle as effectively and comprehensively as the skill in that exercise. I consider the skill one of the keys to transform from reactivity and victimhood to leadership. I recommend doing the exercise! And if you like it, I…

February 13, 2015

Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours

Exercises / Freedom / Habits / Leadership / Models / Tips

Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours

[EDIT February 2020: I gathered, edited, and compiled all the posts I listed below into my book ReModel, which I recommend if you prefer a more curated experience with less clicking. Either way, I recommend doing the exercise. It gives a new way of seeing the world that costs nothing and takes little time.] This series covers my doing my Write Your Beliefs exercise, which I've found one of the more valuable self-awareness exercises that my clients, my students, and I have done. It builds on the Inner Monologue exercise, which I also call "The most effective self-awareness exercise I know." The first entry motivates the value of this exercise, the second describes the exercise, the third and fourth describe my experience doing the exercise,…

February 13, 2015

Awareness / Exercises / Nonjudgment / Perception

Some “The most helpful self-awareness exercise” comments

I responded to some questions from someone practicing "The most effective self-awareness exercise I know" and thought the answers would help others doing the exercise. Or might help motivate people to try it if they haven't. I think it makes sense without the question. I'll check with the person practicing about including the question. Here's what I wrote: The feeling that you don't have anything to write or that your mind is empty is common. I suggest that your mind is never blank. I've never experienced anyone's mind but mine, so I can't say for sure, but everyone I've worked with who has said things like that has later found that they were thinking things that were so like fish-in-water, they couldn't recognize the thoughts.…

February 12, 2015

Art / Exercises / Leadership

Fundamentals and technique: what you do when you don’t know what to do

A professor / actor I'm working with described a harrowing experience that illustrates the value of fundamentals and technique. He told me he forgot his line on a Broadway stage in front of around 500 to 1,000 people. Some paid hundreds of dollars for their seats and want a professional performance. What do you do if you forget your lines on stage? There's a fundamental technique a lot of actors start training early with called the repetition exercise where you repeat the same words back and forth, learning to pay attention to things other than words and react. I don't know many actors, but I think most of them know the exercise. The American-trained ones, at least. This actor, on the Broadway stage, forgetting his…

February 9, 2015

Awareness / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Leadership / Tips

To start a habit, focus on emotions

Different people suggest starting habits different ways. Some say to start with behavior, like setting a New Year's resolution or doing it every day for a month. Others suggest starting by changing your environment, like by putting a note on your computer monitor or daily schedule, wearing a device that measures your exercise, or joining a web page that tracks and reminds you. That's all low-level tactics. Tactics, no matter how effective, don't work if the high-level strategy doesn't work. Effective strategy comes from knowing how the new habit will affect your life. What is its meaning, value, importance, and purpose (MVIP)? MVIP is based in emotion. That means what emotions do you expect the new habit to create. If you expect the change to…

February 5, 2015

Art / Awareness / Entrepreneurship / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Tips

This pattern improves your life

Notice this pattern and you'll know how to improve it. It applies to an activity. I'm thinking of exercise when I write it, but many activities fit it. The pattern When you're not about to do it, you think of it as something you generally want to do. When you're about to do it, you feel anxious, maybe to the point of fear. You have to overcome that anxiety and fear to start it. Starting is hard. After you start, it's hard and unpleasant, but you feel emotional reward for doing it. As hard as it is, since you're doing it, you want to keep doing it and push your limits. As much as you want to keep doing it, you can't keep it up.…

February 3, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits

50,000 burpees!

Happy Superbowl Sunday tomorrow, traditionally a day for drinking beer and eating comfort food. By my calculations, I hit 50,000 burpees around tomorrow too. You can read about my hitting 40,000 and 30,000 before that. Still haven't missed any since my first set of ten in December 2011. Speaking of football food, before I exercise I think exercising will give me an excuse to eat sugary or other unhealthy food that might still taste pleasurable, but I find the opposite happens. Those foods become less appetizing. I think a burpee takes about four seconds to do. By my calculations, 50,000 burpees comes out to about two and a third days. From one perspective that seems like a lot, but over more than three years, it…

January 31, 2015

Listen to the results of my online leadership course: the full interview!

Audio / Education / Exercises / Leadership

Listen to the results of my online leadership course: the full interview!

Over the past six months I created an online leadership course, The Fundamentals of Leadership. I interviewed a student who took it. Listen to the interview highlights and full course. If you want to learn to lead yourself or others better, or to improve your life, listen to the interview and see if it fits your interests. EDIT: Here is a video version of the interview highlights that's only in audio below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ODcbJarCM Click here for the interview highlights (about ten minutes) Click here for the full interview (about an hour) Here it is in nine 5--8-minute segments: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 About the course The Fundamentals of Leadership will prepare…

January 24, 2015

Audio / Education / Exercises / Leadership

Listen to the results of my online leadership course: the full interview, part 9/9

[Another post superseded this one by posting the full interview and the highlights. I'll copy that post here: Over the past six months I created an online leadership course, The Fundamentals of Leadership. I interviewed a student who took it. Listen to the interview highlights and full course. If you want to learn to lead yourself or others better, or to improve your life, listen to the interview and see if it fits your interests. Click here for the interview highlights (about ten minutes) Click here for the full interview (about an hour) Here it is in nine 5—8-minute segments: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 About the course The Fundamentals of Leadership…

January 24, 2015

Audio / Education / Exercises / Leadership

Listen to the results of my online leadership course: the full interview, part 8/9

[Another post superseded this one by posting the full interview and the highlights. I'll copy that post here: Over the past six months I created an online leadership course, The Fundamentals of Leadership. I interviewed a student who took it. Listen to the interview highlights and full course. If you want to learn to lead yourself or others better, or to improve your life, listen to the interview and see if it fits your interests. Click here for the interview highlights (about ten minutes) Click here for the full interview (about an hour) Here it is in nine 5—8-minute segments: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 About the course The Fundamentals of Leadership…

January 23, 2015

Audio / Education / Exercises / Leadership

Listen to the results of my online leadership course: the full interview, part 7/9

[Another post superseded this one by posting the full interview and the highlights. I'll copy that post here: Over the past six months I created an online leadership course, The Fundamentals of Leadership. I interviewed a student who took it. Listen to the interview highlights and full course. If you want to learn to lead yourself or others better, or to improve your life, listen to the interview and see if it fits your interests. Click here for the interview highlights (about ten minutes) Click here for the full interview (about an hour) Here it is in nine 5—8-minute segments: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 About the course The Fundamentals of Leadership…

January 22, 2015

Audio / Education / Exercises / Leadership

Listen to the results of my online leadership course: the full interview, part 6/9

[Another post superseded this one by posting the full interview and the highlights. I'll copy that post here: Over the past six months I created an online leadership course, The Fundamentals of Leadership. I interviewed a student who took it. Listen to the interview highlights and full course. If you want to learn to lead yourself or others better, or to improve your life, listen to the interview and see if it fits your interests. Click here for the interview highlights (about ten minutes) Click here for the full interview (about an hour) Here it is in nine 5—8-minute segments: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 About the course The Fundamentals of Leadership…

January 21, 2015

Audio / Education / Exercises / Leadership

Listen to the results of my online leadership course: the full interview, part 5/9

[Another post superseded this one by posting the full interview and the highlights. I'll copy that post here: Over the past six months I created an online leadership course, The Fundamentals of Leadership. I interviewed a student who took it. Listen to the interview highlights and full course. If you want to learn to lead yourself or others better, or to improve your life, listen to the interview and see if it fits your interests. Click here for the interview highlights (about ten minutes) Click here for the full interview (about an hour) Here it is in nine 5—8-minute segments: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 About the course The Fundamentals of Leadership…

January 20, 2015

End of content

No more pages to load