Tom Brady and Your Harvest...
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
Tom Brady's Patriots crushed the San Diego Chargers last night. John Madden, who was announcing the game referred to Brady as "making it look so easy." He does make it look easy. Brady has a confidence that seems to be above any challenge. What's interesting is that when they interviewed Randy Moss, he mentioned that he always sees Brady sweating, and he seems to work harder than anyone else. The corollary there is amazing. Similar observation have been made of Steve Nash - 2 time MVP of the NBA.
During a conversation I had earlier today, I was speaking to a close friend about cultivating excellence. I mentioned Brady, for the reason that he was drafted in the 6th round, and now has several NFL championships.
Cultivation is the essence of any highly effective skill. Cultivation means preparation, practice, and nurturing of the fundamental principles that produce the desired result. This consistency is seen in high performers. J. Paul Getty (richest man in the world early 1900's) once said:
"The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. he must be quick to break those habits that can break him - and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires."
The "natural" or the "gifted" individual is made...anything can be cultivated...the human potential is unlimited. Those who seek to see limits will find them and be enslaved by them. Wayne Dyer said it best, "Nobody knows enough to be a pessimist."
Cultivate something worth reaping...this requires patience...delay of the end result...this also requires faith, that is, faith in knowing that you will reap that which you sow. Many times we want the reap with out the sow, lol. The good thing is that we can fall in love with both the reap and the sow...who says that we can only enjoy the end? Enjoy the journey, the rest stops, the side roads, and the multiple destinations...
Angel Armendariz
Showing posts with label performance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label performance. Show all posts
Monday, September 17, 2007
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Gratification from Performance
Gratification from Performance
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
"Precisely under conditions of reduction of tensions and gratifications of biological needs, novel forms of mental disorder appeared as existential neurosis, malignant boredom, and retirement neurosis, i.e., forms of mental dysfunction originating, not from repressed drives, from unfulfilled needs, or from stress, but from the meaninglessness of life." - Ludwig von Bertalanffy (General Systems Theory pioneer)
The quote above caught my attention the other day. The reason being is that I have frequently ran across people who have a mild case of what Ludwig is talking about. Especially "malignant boredom," and the meaninglessness of life.
Boredom can be, I believe, a symptom of life having a lack of meaning for someone. Additionally it can be a lack of self-esteem. Let me explain. When life has a meaning, or grandeur purposes beyond the current state; then a person's actions are usually in sync with what those grandeur purposes are. If there is no grandeur purpose; then there is no motivation to act towards something, hence boredom results.
Self-Esteem, creeps its head into the boredom picture when there is a lack of it. A lack of value for oneself, self-esteem, means that a person feels and sees themselves as unworthy of a more fruitful existence or future. Thus, if one feels unworthy, one will not have a belief in a grandeur picture; and if there is no belief there will be no action to grow and move towards a meaningful state of being.
Tensions in life are beneficial. For example, fitness is based on "tearing down" the body so as to allow the body to compensate and build itself stronger. Thus, no "tearing down" = no growth or fitness. To paraphrase Nietzsche - the feeling of power is what is felt when one overcomes some resistance. In a sense the function, action, or performance itself "is" the pleasure we seek as we grow.
Angel Armendariz
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
"Precisely under conditions of reduction of tensions and gratifications of biological needs, novel forms of mental disorder appeared as existential neurosis, malignant boredom, and retirement neurosis, i.e., forms of mental dysfunction originating, not from repressed drives, from unfulfilled needs, or from stress, but from the meaninglessness of life." - Ludwig von Bertalanffy (General Systems Theory pioneer)
The quote above caught my attention the other day. The reason being is that I have frequently ran across people who have a mild case of what Ludwig is talking about. Especially "malignant boredom," and the meaninglessness of life.
Boredom can be, I believe, a symptom of life having a lack of meaning for someone. Additionally it can be a lack of self-esteem. Let me explain. When life has a meaning, or grandeur purposes beyond the current state; then a person's actions are usually in sync with what those grandeur purposes are. If there is no grandeur purpose; then there is no motivation to act towards something, hence boredom results.
Self-Esteem, creeps its head into the boredom picture when there is a lack of it. A lack of value for oneself, self-esteem, means that a person feels and sees themselves as unworthy of a more fruitful existence or future. Thus, if one feels unworthy, one will not have a belief in a grandeur picture; and if there is no belief there will be no action to grow and move towards a meaningful state of being.
Tensions in life are beneficial. For example, fitness is based on "tearing down" the body so as to allow the body to compensate and build itself stronger. Thus, no "tearing down" = no growth or fitness. To paraphrase Nietzsche - the feeling of power is what is felt when one overcomes some resistance. In a sense the function, action, or performance itself "is" the pleasure we seek as we grow.
Angel Armendariz
Friday, August 31, 2007
Confident?...or Bluff?...How to Decipher
Most everyone likes to be confident. Confidence is how effective a person feels within a specific area or situation. Confidence is refreshing, it aids in your performance; its a liberating sense of potential. How can you decipher someone with real confidence from someone who's putting a front?
David J. Lieberman, Ph.D., explains several interesting ways of finding out someone's confidence level. He uses examples of athletes, performers, and speakers; that when performing go beyond themselves, or forget themselves. Someone with confidence isn't thinking about themselves, or is not self-conscious.
Lieberman says, " A nervous person has an ego consuming his thoughts because of fear, worry, and anxiety...and he can't help but focus on himself."
Several giveaway's to lack of confidence are:
-swallowing
-shaking
-high pitch voice
-blinking
The natural stages of development for a person in any arena follow this pattern:
-unconscious incompetence - unaware of incorrect performance
-conscious incompetence - aware of lack of ability/skills
-conscious competence - knows what to do/person needs awareness to be effective.
-unconscious competence - performs correctly without attention/awareness.
From these stages you can see that a high level of confidence would be in the unconscious competence arena. Think about driving for instance. If you can remember the stages you went through in learning to drive; you can clearly see how the 4 stages played out for you...leading up to current level of unconscious competence.
Whether you have the level of confidence you wish to have or don't is irrevelant. The thing is to realize that you will go through all stages to realize ultimate confidence. Its natural to do so; and it is worth going through the first 3 stages in order to get to the 4th.
Angel Armendariz
David J. Lieberman, Ph.D., explains several interesting ways of finding out someone's confidence level. He uses examples of athletes, performers, and speakers; that when performing go beyond themselves, or forget themselves. Someone with confidence isn't thinking about themselves, or is not self-conscious.
Lieberman says, " A nervous person has an ego consuming his thoughts because of fear, worry, and anxiety...and he can't help but focus on himself."
Several giveaway's to lack of confidence are:
-swallowing
-shaking
-high pitch voice
-blinking
The natural stages of development for a person in any arena follow this pattern:
-unconscious incompetence - unaware of incorrect performance
-conscious incompetence - aware of lack of ability/skills
-conscious competence - knows what to do/person needs awareness to be effective.
-unconscious competence - performs correctly without attention/awareness.
From these stages you can see that a high level of confidence would be in the unconscious competence arena. Think about driving for instance. If you can remember the stages you went through in learning to drive; you can clearly see how the 4 stages played out for you...leading up to current level of unconscious competence.
Whether you have the level of confidence you wish to have or don't is irrevelant. The thing is to realize that you will go through all stages to realize ultimate confidence. Its natural to do so; and it is worth going through the first 3 stages in order to get to the 4th.
Angel Armendariz
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