Self Improvement - The hardest thing!

I am just back from my weekend 'Kanban', sustainably paced, 21k run. I do 'Scrum' runs on weekdays: shorter distances and higher speeds. 'Scrum' runs are painful, literally! I can't even breathe let alone think. But they are important too as they help keep me in touch and also build up pace. I don't listen to music during my runs as I like to spend the time during my 'Kanban' runs pondering over an idea or a problem. I had one such during my just concluded run and here I am all sweaty writing this before I go clean myself up. The cover image is a snapshot of how the mini forest looked like after I was done with my run. There was no one around; it was 10:30 am and the morning walkers and joggers had left. So what was making me inflict the pain of a half marathon and doing it all alone? I am probably used to it after many years of running and actually look forward to such runs. Most other may not find this normal, even if some may want to be able to do the same. So I am motivated enough to keep running regularly because it has now become second nature. Yet there are other things I want to do in life and I am unable to make headway on them. I recently dropped pursuing a Masters degree in analytics because I was unable to keep up with the course.

Each of us has some good habit(s) that has improved our life, but I would wager that there would be no one who can say that they are not wasting a single minute of their lives or are successfully able to pursue any goal that they choose to. So what can help us move along on the path of self improvement? One big stumbling block is the feeling of the goal being insurmountable and so giving up even before we start since a part of us doesn't want us to fail or be perceived by society to have failed. Particularly when we measure ourselves in comparison to others in the same field a feeling of helplessness, since the others may have already 'raced' too far ahead, may descend over us preventing us from even starting. Rather if one measures improvement against one's own former self, it will get easier to start on a new endeavor. Remember 1.01^365 = 38, meaning if you improve by 1% everyday, you will become 38 times better than you were after a year.

Still, it is not easy to start and sustain improvements in oneself. One mechanism espoused by Rhonda Byrne in "The Secret" is that "Positive thinking magnets positive outcomes". Sometimes thinking too much about what you want to be doing without actually doing anything about it can get depressing. So how can one start doing, taking those baby steps towards a chosen area of self improvement without delay or worry of failure. I believe you should follow the advice parents give their children: make friends with good and smart people. Along those lines, if you wish to improve competency in a particular area, go find someone who is good at it at stick to that person until you are propelled by self motivation.

I recently came across the "Harada" method for self improvement and found it quite interesting. This was created by Takashi Harada and is explained in the book " The Harada Method the Spirit of Self-Reliance". The method calls for working with a coach, among other things, to improve oneself. The first step is to shed the mask of invincibility and reveal your vulnerability to the coach in the area that you want to improve in. And then stick with him/her until you are motivated enough to continue on the journey alone. Let's face it. All of us need coaches to help us improve in some area or another. I think I have found just the right person who will get me restarted in data analytics. Meanwhile, if someone wants to take up running and needs a 'Harada' coach, you know where to find one!