Thursday, September 13, 2007

Old tool rediscovered.. Part 2

After we're cleared the air about change and expectation, we go into the mode of what it takes to make that change..

During this stage it's always best to think small.. list out what activities that you can do (or support) to make the change.. Let's take loosing weight as an example.. At first you surely need to have a target to aim for.. without a clear goal, you're better of not thinking about it at all.. Imagine walking into a soccer field without knowing which side of the goal is your's..
Now let say you aim to loose 5kg in 3 months (I've never had an issue with my weight so I'm not sure if this is realistic or not - but I did lost 9kg in 3 months in 2002) so you should list down what are those activities that will help you achieve it.. right? So list out things like - cut down on meal portion, go for jogging every Saturday morning or whatever.. Usually that is what normal people do... We want to be extraordinary, so let's take it to the next level with deliberate practice!

Taking the above as an example, deliberate practice is not just jogging but perfecting your jog to be more effective.. If golf is your passion, deliberate practice is not going to the driving range to hit 100 balls, it going to the driving range to hit 100 balls with 3-wood to reach 200 yards 80% of the time.. Again I'm not a golfer so it may sound strange.. but you get the picture laa.. on a more personal note, just to share, my deliberate practice to save time while taking my morning shower was to be able to grab the bar of soap with my left hand and start applying to my right arm 1st.. it took me over a month to get it down to a habit.. and guess what, it works! :P

So now apply that onto other areas of life.. like making a person smile whenever you greet them.. turning to a certain page to refer when asked.. everything or anything you want to work on, apply deliberate practice... Imagine what you can do when it becomes a habit and you do it subconsiously.. Cool huh?

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Old tool rediscovered..

Ever heard of deliberate practice?

Well, it's the most powerful tool for self-improvement provided that you are patient enough.. You see, change doesn't happen over night.. and even if change happens, it takes quite an amount of effort and energy to sustain the consistancy..

Some poeple are just plain impatient.. they say something and hope the world will change in a zap.. well, it doesn't! It takes time.. but what you can do is help them in their deliberate practice.. the help can be in a form of support, or even helping them identifying what they should work on to make that change happen..

That's just a teaser for you guys.. I gotta go and will continue later.. in the meantime remember this simple advise from a wise sensei "think small when it comes to making improvements as the tiny drops makes the mighty ocean"...

See ya!!