The Practicing Mind

Hi Everyone!?

I am Sheetal Jain.

Here, I am going to share how my experience with a book has been.?

This time you will read the summary of "The Practicing Mind"? By Thomas M. Sterner.

So, Let's recapitulate.?

About the author of this book: This book was written by Thomas? S. Sterner. He has studied Eastern and Western philosophy and modern sports psychology and trained as a jazz pianist. He has also served as the chief concert piano technician for a major performing arts center. He prepared and maintained the concert Grand Piano for hundreds of world-renowned artists. His workday required constant interaction with highly disciplined and focused people.

Gist of this book: This book is about how you can learn any skill and turn it into your habit. As we have seen, whatever we can do naturally is actually what we have been doing for a long period repeatedly. Repetition of an activity for a certain period every day turns the activity into a habit. But some barriers stop us from continuing anything for at least 21 days.

The book tells the answer to the question of why we fail to learn a skill and why we get frustrated and stressed so easily when we are unable to master any skill. The author has shared some techniques and real-life incidents and common behavior of a person to the common problems.??

This book has 9 chapters. I want to share lessons that I could learn from every chapter of this book. So let’s recapitulate.?

Chapter 1: The Learning Begins?

The very first influencing line on the left page, when this chapter begins, is “Life itself is a long practice session of efforts to refine ourselves”. The veracity of this line can be well comprehended by people who are curious to know new things and willing to learn new skills throughout life. But what I could learn from this line is “the way you practise your life changes your life’s trajectory. If you are an active and punctual learner, and ready to come out of your comfort zone, You are practising to learn and grow. On the other hand, If you feel tired throughout the day and vegetate in front of the TV, phone, and social media, you are ruining the precious time that you may invest in learning a skill.??

In this chapter, the author has explained how he started observing his practicing mind. He has put down some incidents from his real life. He has also explained the way he tackled barriers that were stopping him from mastering a skill.?

Chapter 2:? Process, Not Product.?

This chapter taught me that we must be process-oriented, not result-oriented.? It is a fact that the culture of rank and marks has gotten flourished in the education system and the pedagogy has now gotten inclined toward results. This is why we have many graduates but not many skilled graduates. Because skills are a result of a process continued for a certain period, this process requires learners to practice with patience and discipline.?

The mechanic of practice, as explained by the author in this book, requires deliberately and intentionally staying in the process of doing something and being aware of whether you are accomplishing that thing. And with staying in the process we also need to ensure that we are detached from the product.

But many times, while doing something to achieve a specific goal, we get attached to emotions and also to the result, which no one has seen. We start getting indulged in unrelated thoughts and get frustrated and impatient with the process of doing something.?

To avoid getting impatient and staying in the process we need to ensure that we are observing every small thing of our process, which also means staying in the present. But to stay in the present and in the process of doing something, we need to change our perception which the author has explained well in the next chapter.? So, let’s look at it.?

Chapter 03:? It’s how you look at it.?

We all try to achieve perfectionism. It’s all up to us how we look at that thing. No one has been able to achieve 100% perfectionism. We desire to be the best among all who are doing the same thing we are doing. All these personal images of perfection dissolve into unrealistic images of faster time, more scores, more money, and so on. So, to change this thought of perfectionism I have taken down some takeaways which I could have from this chapter.

1. Judgment of the performance of others and comparison with our performance is the biggest barrier that stops us from growing. Because we invest our energy in judging others. Judging and comparing other performances with that of ours frustrates and forces us to give up or change our goals.
2. We should live like a flower. It is perfect at its different phases of growth. This means that whatever you are doing now and wherever you stand, is perfect according to your present amount of knowledge. To do a little better, add more. It takes time for all elements sun, soil, water, and also time to produce a flower. The same may apply to you, it might take time for all elements to take you to your destination. Just keep patience and follow a discipline
3. It matters how you look at your task or job. Does it seem like creativity and you find fun while doing it or it just seems a burdensome task to be finished as soon as possible? You may have found yourself completely absorbed in the present moment while doing creative work, I have found myself while drawing mehndi patterns (You can check a few of my creations here: https://www.facebook.com/simmijain11 ). So, it matters how you look at an activity you do. Make it creative and full of fun to get absorbed in the present.?
4. “What ifs” isn’t just a phrase that Puts you in a hypothetical situation but also a phrase that pulls you away from the present moment. So, always avoid “what if” when you are learning a skill.?
5. a beautiful line that I could take from this chapter is “The practicing mind puts you in control of even the most difficult time.? this produces inner peace and helps you accomplish your goals with Fewer efforts.?

Chapter 04: Creating a Habit.

When you will read this chapter you will find that you can build any habit that you want.? what I could understand is to build a habit keep patience, follow discipline, detach yourself from emotions, and repeat the thing you want to turn into a habit for at least 21 days.?

Chapter 05: Perception change creates patience.?

“Changing our experience of life is well within our grasp”? ? -? Thomas S. Sterner?

The way we practice our life defines the trajectory of our life. I could learn from this chapter that to earn a habit I need to earn patience. A habit is built when you are patiently doing an activity for a longer period. And being patient is the most sought quality today. But the question is how do we create patience? It is possible to create patience by creating perception change. I would like to highlight steps shared by the author in this chapter that will help us in creating patience??

1. The Very First Step is to stay in the present and stay in the process.?
2. The second step is to accept that there is no true perfectionism. Whatever you perceive as perfect is always relative to where you are in life today.

And to work on these two steps there are some techniques from the author’s real-life experience.?

Before closing this chapter let me share a few ideas that every reader of this book would like to keep visiting, they are as follows:?

1. Progress is the natural result of staying focused on a process.
2. When you are focused on the process, the goal comes toward you with frictionless ease, But when? ? you are constantly focusing on the final result you are getting away from your goal
3. You need to acknowledge your goal to yourself occasionally using it as a rudder to keep moving in the right direction.
4. Cheating with discipline doesn’t work.?
5. ?As you work at the process of learning, you spent time alone with yourself, and the energy. As you give time and energy it returns the efforts a thousandfold.?
6. When you have decided against acquiring a skill that will take you a long time, then you cannot materialize your dream if you make the result point of your focus. You need to acknowledge your goal once and then let it go, and put your feet in the shoe of the process that will move you toward your goal.?
7. Patience is just a natural overgrowth of your shifted perspective.
8. Your confidence goes way up, as does your patience with yourself.?
9. If your goal is learning a skill, your feeling of struggle dissolves away.?
10. Believe in the process, not in the product.?

Chapter 06: The Four “ S “ Words?

???“ Simplicity in efforts will conquer the most complex task” ?

— Thoman M. Sterner

1. Simplify:? Simplify your goal by breaking it down into its component section
2. Small: Break Overall Goal into the small section
3. Short: Make a short duration of time for every small task. Like, this thing ‘X’, I will keep continuing for the next? 45 minutes or any duration you are comfortable with.
4. Slow: Slowness in the process means the pace at which you can observe every minutia.?

Chapter 07:? Equanimity and DOC

????“Nonjudgement is the pathway to a quiet mind” ? —? Thomas M. Sterner?

????Equanimity means calmness, a quality necessary for the happiness of life. Our Brain works with equanimity when we are closely observing the activity we are doing. But what we do, as I have seen it commonly in everyone including myself, we make judgments on everything we come across. We bring our opinion, emotions, and experience to compare those things with our ideals while we know well our ideals evolve throughout our life.??

Emotions prevent you from thinking clearly, and a decision taken by falling into emotions may have a great impact on your life. Let me share a real-life incident with one of my relatives.?

Once, one of my relatives made a foreign friend. The foreigner made so strong relations with my relative. One day he said that he is sending some gifts to all of his friends on his grandma’s birthday. He sent photos of shopping and the gifts ( Gifts included MacBook, iPhone, Goldchain, Gold bangles, etc.) to my relative and asked him to pay a courier charge of Rs 35000. My relative paid him because he has fallen into emotions and didn’t think clearly. This is by the author said, “Emotions stop you from thinking clearly”.? And This is the very reason for many frauds. So, remember emotions hide reality.?

?Now, what we need to learn from this chapter is,? “Nonjudgement”. And Meditation is the only effortless way to master it. But what is the technique to meditate for achieving the behavior of non-judgment?

It is DOC, “DO OBSERVE CORRECTLY.?

Yes, when you examine something closely you observe that thing correctly and this helps you to think clearly. So, I wish you will remember the three key lines?

1. “Nonjudgement is the pathway to a quiet mind.”
2. “Emotions stop you from thinking clearly.”
3. Meditation with DOC, “DO OBSERVE CORRECTLY”, technique.

With this, I would like to give thanks to the author and would like to close learnings from this chapter of this book here.

Chapter 08:? Teach and Learn From Children?

“Wisdom is not a by-product of age, teach and learn from all those around you. “? — Thomas M. Sterner?

If you have spent time with children, you would have seen how carefree they are. Do you know why is it so?

Let me tell you how this chapter answered this question

There is a large difference between children’s and adults’ perspectives of life. For children, there is today, that’s it while for adults their concerns about the past and future are their everything.

We adults spend lots of time on regression of past mistakes and we wish to correct them if we would be given a chance which is a false illusion. We are inclined toward the future and keep thinking about where will life be going when we do this or that thing.?

But neither past exists nor the future. The present is the only time that exists. We should inherit the perspective of living in the present from children and we should try to help children not to lose this nature as they grow.?

Chapter 09: Your skills are growing?

“With deliberate and repeated efforts, progress is inevitable” – Thomas M. Sterner?

This last chapter of the book will teach you some most important lessons. We know that our skills are growing but we must know in which direction they are growing. So, let me tell you answers to some most sought questions pertinent to the direction we need to choose to reach our goal.?

Q1: What takes us in the wrong direction?

Our lack of awareness of the right process to achieve our goal and right process gets hidden due to our excessive focus on the end result. Awareness of the right process brings self-control. When you know in which direction you are moving and you are well aware of the process to be followed, you experience a sense of success in every moment. So, having the right knowledge of your dream is a must-have thing to achieve it.

Q2: What has made us inclined toward grades, ranks, and ultimately to the product rather than process?

Our education system has crippled our mindset and made it inclined toward product rather than process. Since, childhood, we are taught to be grade-A students. That’s why everyone wants to be number one, to have the best, to be a top ranker. But this mindset is nothing more than a habit and we can unlearn this habit. We need to adopt present-mindedness.?

Q3:? Do you know why we worry about the future?

Because we make materialistic happiness such as a big home, a big car, and a high-paying job our daily priority which seems to be insignificant in unprecedented times. Our health and the health of our family and friends, and who and what we feel should become our priorities, not materialistic happiness.?

I can understand you will have a goal to achieve and you want it because you want to grow in your life. But without staying in the present you cannot achieve it. So, stop worrying about the future. The present is the only time that exists.

Q4: Why do we get changed?

I remember, when I was 10 years old, my family used to call me “Sheetal Engineer” as I was curious a lot in knowing the internal workings of every device. When I turned to 16, I was interested in business, and when I pursued my graduation I got interested in computer science. And after graduation, I got interested in something else. This isn’t only with me but also with many youths. But the question is what changes us, why do we get changed??

We get changed because as we grow our knowledge grows and our thoughts evolve based on the knowledge we acquire. So, what can keep you going in one direction??

Consistently acquiring knowledge of your dream will make you aware of the right process and will help you in keeping yourself committed to your goal. So, you need to keep yourself away from distractions.?

Thomas M. Sterner has given a piece of very good advice on the last page of this chapter which is, “You can eliminate a certain amount of distraction by carefully choosing what you expose yourself to in the way of media, be it TV, music, or reading material. If it doesn’t enrich you, then you don’t need it”.

I wish you would like to keep this line with you to keep yourself moving in the right direction.?

With this, I would like to end my article here. I have taken a lot of learnings from this book. I would like you to read and share your learnings with me in the comments.?

Thanks for reading.?