The 40-30-30 Rule: Why Risk Is Worth It

from www.the99percent.com

tip

by Michael Schwalbe

Many of the strategies employed in competitive and recreational sports are applicable in business and our personal lives. One lesson I learned from alpine ski racing was the “40-30-30 Rule.” During training, early on, I tried to go fast, and I also focused on not falling. On a ride up the ski lift, my coach told me I was missing the point. He explained that success in ski racing, or most sports for that matter, was only 40% physical training. The other 60% was mental. And of that, the first 30% was technical skill and experience. The second 30% was the willingness to take risks. With ski racing, specifically, that meant taking the risk of leaning harder into turns, balancing at a steeper angle to the slope, and placing greater pressure on the outside ski edge – all of which increased the chance of falling. My coach explained, though, that if I wasn’t falling at least once a day in training, I wasn’t trying hard enough. Indeed, to improve at anything, we must at some point push ourselves outside our comfort zone. Body builders call it the “pain period.” Only by trying something new, struggling, learning, and then trying again do we improve our performance. It’s a simple matter of acclimating to unchartered territory.To improve at anything, we must at some point push ourselves outside our comfort zone.

 

And when we come out the other side, we often can’t help but wonder why we were so timid in the first place. Questioning this fear is not unfounded. Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert has shown that we deal with failure better than we’d expect. In studies, “when people are asked to predict how they’ll feel if they lose a job… or fail a contest, they consistently overestimate how awful they’ll feel and how long they’ll feel awful.” In other words, “we overestimate the intensity and duration of our distress in the face of future adversity.”

While we tend to focus solely on building our skill sets or expanding our knowledge, the greatest advancement and learning most often comes from action, experience, and taking risk. And our regrets in life reflect this. According to Gilbert, studies show that “in the long run, people of every age and in every walk of life seem to regret not having done things much more than they regret things they did.”

Although playing it safe makes sense in some professions such as financial services and healthcare, for our own creative development, we need to focus on the last 30%. Our inhibitions have evolved to protect us, but, in many cases, they limit us. The challenge is to rebalance our nature. Ultimately, it’s the ones who barrel through the discomfort, are resilient in the face of failure, and master the last 30% of taking risk who reach the highest levels of performance.

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This tip comes from workplace psychology wonk and research analyst Michael Schwalbe. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelschwalbe.

If you’re still on Earth, there’s still more to do!

“Self-trust is the first secret of success, the belief that if you are here the authorities of the universe put you here, and for cause, or with some task strictly appointed you in your constitution, and so long as you work at that you are well and successful.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882); Philosopher, Poet, Author, Essayist

www.BetterBecauseOfYou.com

What are you Grateful for?

What are you Grateful for?

Thank you Dr. Seuss

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

—Dr. Seuss (1904-1991), Writer, cartoonist

It’s okay to put out imperfect things

Ira Glass on Storytelling #3

Tonight my good friend and I had a long conversation about what hinders creativity or the creativity process.  This video is such a great reminder to KEEP TRYING – KEEP ATTEMPTING!  Stop worrying about being a perfectionist and remember that it’s okay to put out imperfect things.  

The Creative Place = Discovering Yourself

“The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”

Two of the greatest qualities in life are: Patience and Wisdom.

What’s inside of emptiness?

When we feel empty we are often already inside and have decided we can’t find anything.  Maybe we didn’t sit long enough with our feelings or didn’t really try, but promised ourselves we did.  Either way, when we leave that inside scan with nothing we immediately avoid the feeling that got us there. Avoidance is done in all kinds of ways from overeating, drinking, shopping, calling others…etc.  This is all done in an attempt to ignore the feeling that we are “in need of something” or “lacking something”.

The more I got to thinking about feeling empty or what it might mean, I had a few questions come to mind like:

Maybe it would be okay to lack something?

or

What would happen if I sat for a really long time with empty feelings and still felt empty?

I guess those questions were leading me from their initial negative origins to their potential positive. It seems to me like it would be a really safe space to get closer to your spiritual side.  The silence alone would offer anyone new opportunities to really listen their body and relax their mind.

So, my question to you is: Can emptiness be a good thing? Can it be enjoyed?  Does it always have to be fed or do we need to allow ourselves to be at peace with a void and accept not trying to fill it up with consumables, debt, or loss of time?

There are so many things out there that are available to feed our distractions – I challenge you to be mindful just once this week when you feel the urge to feed emptiness with your distraction of choice, to say no.  And after you say no, be still with the void.

Best,

Mike

Remember: Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.

Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.

We all know that, right?  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about basic things, ideas, ways of living, etc…  And I just felt like if I needed a reminder of this, then it couldn’t hurt to put it on paper for myself to return to later and here and now on my blog.

Keep dancing with abandon and give yourself permission to choose happiness if you’re letting sorrow or grief overstay their basic purpose.

“Basic purpose” you ask?  Yes, everything created can almost always be linked back to meeting a basic need or purpose.  And often we do a disservice to ourselves and the “meet basic need” invention by streamlining it for efficiency – especially sorrow and grief.

Problem is, we all forget that grief and sorrow aren’t streamline-able.  That said, you have to also know when you’ve done your deep introspective work and accepted whatever you were avoiding so that you can let the grief and sorrow energy move away.

So, if sorrow or grief are sticking around too long or you catch yourself ruminating over the way things in your life aren’t working out the way you’d planned, Here’s a tip:

1. Drink 8 thirst quenching glass of water per day!

2. Take 2 deep breathes often throughout your day and right now.

3. And finally, say out loud, “I’m picking happiness in this moment” or “I’m giving myself permission to be happy in this moment.”

The very act of #3 is like pinching yourself.  The PINCH happens and all the sudden you are no longer in the depressed past or anxious future, but 100% in the conscious here and now Present.

So, there may have been a chance you were distracted by the past or the future when you started reading this and now that I know you can listen because I have your *PINCH* Present attention – my reminder was basically this:

Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.

That’s all for now…hope you all have a wonderful weekend allowing yourself to choose happiness!

Cheers,

Mike

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

www.BetterBecauseOfYou.com