Parenting/Education: Thoreau Knew about Raising and Educating Children
“I am struck by the fact that the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think that the same is true of human beings. We do not wish to see children precocious, making great strides in their early years like sprouts, producing a soft and perishable timber, […]
Read MoreSports: Why the World’s Best Athletes Use Routines
Routines are one of the most important aspects of sports that athletes can develop to improve their training and competitive performances. The fundamental value of routines is that they ensure total preparation in athletes’ efforts. Routines enable athletes to be completely physically, technically, tactically, and mentally ready to perform their best. I don’t know a world-class athlete in any sport who does not use routines in some part of his or her competitive preparations. Routines are most often used before competitions to make sure that athletes are prepared to perform their best. They can also be valuable in two other areas. Routines can be developed in training to ensure that athletes get the most out of their practice time. Routines are also important between performances of a competition to help athletes get ready for subsequent performances (for sports comprised of a series of short performances; to be discussed in a future post). There are a lot of things in sport that athletes can’t control such as weather conditions and their opponent. Ultimately, the only thing athletes can control is themselves. Sport routines can increase control over their performances by enabling them to directly prepare every area that impacts their sport. Those areas athletes can control include their equipment (is your gear in optimal condition?), their body (are you physically and technically warmed up?), and their mind (are you at prime focus and intensity?). Routines also allow athletes to make their preparation more predictable by knowing they’re systematically covering every area that will influence performance. Athletes can also expect the unexpected. In other words, they can plan for every eventuality that could arise during a competition. If athletes can reduce the things that can go wrong and be prepared for those things that do, they’ll be better able to stayed focused and relaxed before and during the competition.
Read MoreCycling: Prime Cycling Profiling
Now that you have an understanding of Prime Cycling—riding at a consistently high level under the most challenging conditions—from my previous Prime Cycling articles, you can begin the process of achieving it. The first step involves gaining a better understanding of yourself as an cyclist. This self-understanding then results in greater improvement and better performance. Becoming […]
Read MorePersonal Growth: Teddy Roosevelt’s Words to Live By
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who […]
Read MoreBusiness: Four Emotions to Avoid in a Crisis
Our primitive brains, which have yet to catch up with the challenges of business life in the 21st century, will likely cause you to feel four emotions when faced with a crisis in your work, what I call the caveman crisis chain: fear, frustration, anger, and despair. As I noted in the last issue of Prime Business Alert!, which emotions you experience and the intensity with which you feel them depend on a variety of factors including your innate temperament, your past experiences with emotions in general and crises in particular, the degree to which the crisis threatens you directly, the resources you have available to respond to the crisis, and amount of control you have over the crisis. The caveman crisis chain is all-encompassing, so that it impacts us physically, psychologically, and cognitively. And one thing is certain: this reaction can’t be stopped; 300 million years of instinct can’t be readily undone. Rather the best you can hope for is to understand your temperament and develop tools that will prevent caveman crisis chain from gaining control of you during a time of crisis when a calm heart and a cool head are necessary for your survival. Your goal is to limit the intensity and duration of this reaction when faced with a crisis, so that your more highly evolved capabilities, namely, those associated with your cerebral cortex, can assert themselves and guide you toward a solution to the crisis at hand.
Read MoreTechnology: Hanging Out with Your Friends — High-Tech Style
A commenter on one of my blogs sent me this “funny if it wasn’t so sad” illustration of the role that technology plays in the lives of many people these days: 10 Awesome Ways to Have a Really Great Time with Your Friends. If you’re anything like me, you see these scenes play out every […]
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