Month: August 2021

We all want to pretend that when we set a goal, no matter how large or small, we’ll put in our best effort, but what does that really mean? On a recent run, I was feeling pretty worn down and was ready to call it quits, but decided I’d go just a bit further. I then remembered an old philosophy from my collegiate athlete days, the importance of “just two more”.

The Most Difficult Interval

Back in college, when my exercise routine was far more regimented, speed training always arrived towards the end of the season. There was a common mantra as the workout was coming to a close. On the second to last sprint, someone was nearly guaranteed to say, “this is the hardest one.”

The idea behind this was the mental barrier of knowing after a tough rep, there was still another. The final interval, however, it was far easier to put everything aside for a brief time and push through any barriers. After this, the workout was over.

On my recent trip, the best route for running was the private drive that led up to my Airbnb. Not having a fancy watch, I estimated the loop to the nearby highway and back was a short ¾ of a mile. With a little over five minute loops, the runs were pretty monotonous.

During one of the runs, I was feeling exhausted, but felt I could continue for a few more minutes. I thought, “I’ll just do one more,” and then the memories of all those intervals came to mind. I decided two more would do just fine.

I’d actually made it a little past my initial expectation for the day, after feeling sick earlier that week. Still, I wanted to maximize the miles I got in, after all I do have a marathon I need to run in a few months.

Applying this Elsewhere

Physical activity is the easiest to apply this, but it can be applied to mental practices as well.

In all practice, we’ll inevitably hit a wall, or the dip as Seth Godin puts it in his book of the same name. As we begin to feel resistance, it becomes harder and harder to see the practice through. Once that resistance begins, break down the practice into smaller pieces and complete just two more. Maybe it’s pages in a book, lessons in a course, or problems to solve, all of these provide tangible progress that offers a stopping point for a given practice session.

Now, it might be easy to think, “Well, can’t we try to keep pushing until we hit a goal or are truly forced to stop?” Sometimes avoiding injury or other problems is more important than a single run.

It’s also important to keep the promise to yourself. If you constantly lie to yourself, it will be easier to fight off in the future. When it comes to battles with the self, it’s best to stick to the truth.

Thinking more on the idea, it’s not only something that can be used to fight through barriers, but to also mark a stopping point. For example, the slippery slope of the “one more turn” trap. Rather than trying to fight the urge to quit a game or other experience as soon as possible, embrace that the slope is ahead and come to terms with ending soon.

In the end, two more isn’t some magic number that unlocks a secret lifehack to accomplish more. It’s just a tool I used in the past, and have begun looking for new ways to apply it to improve my life.

Last week, I spent an entire week alone in a rental on Airbnb. It was a pretty comfortable stay with electricity and even running water. However, its minimal space and limited activities helped me put aside the many distractions of the every day and focus on reading and writing.

Attempts of the Past

This wasn’t the first of the so-called vision quests I’ve had in my life. A couple times in the past few years, I’ve set aside some time for solitude and thinking. My current journal dates all the way back to November of 2017, in which I attempted a brief backpacking trip with next to no gear.

Last year, I tried to make a trip out of Fourth of July weekend, again in the woods backpacking. I was able to get a decent amount of journaling and thinking done, but there are a number of lines ranting about the conditions of the bugs and heat.

These experiences have definitely helped me to think about what I am looking for in a trip like this: isolation, limited comforts, and shelter.

This Time Around

I’m happy to say this year went much better. The accommodations were pretty nice. The building was maybe 30×15 ft with a kitchen and bathroom. Having electricity allowed me to use my tablet for writing and reading ebooks and my phone for listening to music and podcasts. Running water meant I could shower, wash dishes, and stay hydrated. The one utility I didn’t want to have was the internet, and luckily there was none.

The building was out on a pretty large set of shared properties out in rural Missouri. The front door actually faced a large overgrown field with a small path of woods nearby. One of the only downsides was the nearby road into town was a very narrow highway, and so my running route was out and back along the driveway, a roughly five minute loop.

Even with this excellent balance of comfort and limitation, I still struggled to focus. I was easily distracted from the intention of the trip, to think about where I wanted to direct my time and energy for the foreseeable future. In the first few days, I looked at vastly different activities to keep myself busy. One day, I spent an hour organizing old papers that I probably shouldn’t have brought in the first place.

I wanted to use this trip as an opportunity to explore plans for a project to really throw my weight behind. With my interest in trials dwindling, I want to put a stronger push behind a single idea or project.

Make Three, Share Two

The discovery I made wasn’t exactly new, but I definitely needed the reminder. Instead of fighting my flowing interests, I should use that as a strength. I  am going to attempt a weekly production schedule of “make three, share two.” The plan is to complete three creations a week, be that a blog post, short story, or perhaps the chapter of something bigger. Then, publish two of those online somewhere, like this site or elsewhere.

I wanted to start with this standard and adjust going forward. My hope is that I can build up a backlog of blog posts, stories, and other projects that I can release over time. This may not be the ideal method of producing content, but battling against my tendency to spark interest in a given area at any time.

The inspiration for this came about when I started planning out the week into themes and projects, but decided I should just let my inspiration at a given time guide what I read, write, or listen to at a given time.

Rather than have a day dedicated to Dungeons and Dragons prep and another for reading different philosophy books, I spent a day finishing Ben Franklin’s autobiography, watching some DnD YouTube videos I saved, and then read books on the World of Warcraft lore. I also wrote a few paragraphs on takeaways I had on Franklin’s autobiography that I hope to make into a post soon.

I don’t know if this method is the optimal or ideal, but for a long time I’ve tried to focus on a single idea and failed to make substantial ground as interest shifted elsewhere. All I know is when I’m working on something I have serious passion for, even if only for a single day, working on it is effortless. I think of this earlier post on DnD in which the words poured out without much thought. I know it’s a subject I still have much more to write on, and there will likely be a few related posts in the backlog.

Being able to disconnect and take some time to relax has me excited and ready to take on goals and challenges I’ve been putting off for a long time. 

This post started as the draft leading into my decision to put trials on hold, but I didn’t end up finishing it in time.

The last few years have involved trying out a lot of different things which allowed me to test the waters and gauge my actual interest. Thinking on what I’ve done recently I’ve found a few similarities in the things that I’ve enjoyed: creativity, challenge, and flexibility.

Be Creative

Generally, I like to work on things that allow me to make things from scratch. Whether it’s a full fledged DnD campaign or a simple sketch, being able to mold something from nothing is a great feeling.

Right off the bat the process of creation is a blast. Making decisions and building on the consequences of all those before leads to a unique creation every time. Watching something come together piece by piece into a final result is one of the best feelings I’ve had. I especially love working on DnD campaigns, because of how often I need to shift my planning to accomodate for unexpected turns the players take.

Creating solutions to present problems have long gotten me through challenges of life. Whether it’s embracing a new viewpoint or rigging up some system to break a bad habit. Developing the ability to look at the tools and techniques available to address a problem and pick one that works best is a skill that will benefit me for my whole life.

Always a Higher Peak

Most of my interests force me to face some form of challenge. Be it a mental challenge of overcoming a particular problem, a physical challenge that requires grit and persistence, or a social challenge of nonconformity.

Learning and developing my ideas wasn’t something I really embraced until after my education ended. From pre-K to college, I found myself going through the motions. It wasn’t until the end of college, I found a passion for chasing new ideas. I think removing the requirements helped build excitement for making my own path in learning a subject. Whether it’s reading old philosophical texts or taking an online course, picking an area to learn about has become a favorite pastime.

While my mind took some time to find interest in learning, I’m lucky to have long been interested in fitness. My passion definitely started with running cross country, which built into a distance runner’s passion for marathons and the sort. Finishing a challenging race with a proud time was a feeling that lasted only briefly, as now there was a new mark to beat. Challenging oneself from yesterday has long been a driver for me.

This didn’t just stop at running. After my college career came to a close, I pushed my attention to weight lifting and nearing the end of that, I was surpassing personal bests regularly. The strain and pain of working out has long been a feeling I love.

The feeling doesn’t apply to just the mind and body, but in social interactions as well. For most of my life I’ve been interested in niche (nerdy) hobbies like playing World of Warcraft, watching anime, and other weird things. If not for a willingness to try things out I wouldn’t have found myself writing this blog. In my youth, sharing these interests wasn’t easy, but as I’ve grown older, finding others with those interests, be they past or present, has led to many great friendships. The only way to find those people is to talk about those passions.

The buck doesn’t stop at nerdy hobbies, but also in my daily lifestyle. Practices like minimalism and pursuing financial independence have me making decisions that my family and friends may not entirely follow.

Constrained, But Flexible

One of the only ways I’ve been able to get anything done is to set up a deadline for a project. Setting a time limit has often pushed me to get things into some degree of a finished state, even if I think there is room to grow. Be it the weekly blog post or a game jam coming to an end.

Constraints, especially deadlines, are great at holding accountability, but there are some cases where the experience feels too rigid. Throughout the years, the promise of a weekly post has been the only reason I’ve been able to get this blog written. However, as time has gone by, something began to feel lacking in my writing. Periodically, I find I don’t have much to say one week or have dwindling interest in the given trial. When these times hit, getting anything on the page falls beyond a challenge to a painful slog.

Live streaming was especially a big challenge battling this feeling. By the end of the trial, I’d basically given up. I just didn’t have it in me to force myself to feel like I was wasting hours. Having to be “on” at a given time multiple times a week was just something I struggled with greatly. Having to work around a strict schedule is really something I don’t foresee myself working within for long term projects.

Something else I believe will help is to batch time for writing posts. I plan to spend more time writing on a variety of ideas, no longer under the constraint of updates relevant to a given week or trial.

Ultimately, deadlines are a great tool for consistent creation, but they need to be applied in the right settings. Finding what types of projects work best for time pressure and what needs room to breathe. Also, the ability to change direction when something isn’t working is crucial.