Weekly Musings #5 Big visions and baby steps

This week I'm summarizing a lot of thoughts and things that have happened the past month or so, all having to do with the magic of consistency, persistence and perseverance, the power of slowly chipping away at a big block of granite until nothing but gravel remains.

I think it started with me complementing Peter Sandberg for his paintings and his ability, (check out the thread of comments to my post on hobbies for that) to which he simply answered: - Yes, I took up painting again as a hobby, but I almost quit before starting again since I realized how much time it would take for me to get good enough again. And that's when his daughter Alexandra told him ”One never should be afraid of doing things that will take a long time because time will pass anyway!” which of course changed his whole mindset of what he was about to do. He ended by saying "My only talent is that I'm good at practice and training." which I felt was an understatement, but looking at it again, it means everything.

”One never should be afraid of doing things that will take a long time because time will pass anyway!” Alexandra Sandberg

Sometimes talent can even be a curse, not a blessing, in disguise. If you have it too easy, you might not feel that you need to practice, study or train. Your talent can take you far, but not as far as the ones that had to work for it, the ones that had to put in the hours to acquire the skills needed to perform.

So don't worry if you don't have talent.

Remember - you can become better at anything.

Anything.

Starting from where you are today you can improve and change.

As long as you stick to it, and trust the process, as I wrote in #Daily Post 405.

Trust the process and stick to the plan. You will improve.

But only if you are prepared to chip away, day after day, one small piece at a time. Nothing comes for free, and you won't get there tomorrow.

You might never get there, but finding the beauty in the chipping away is part of it. If you set yourself to achieve something, then the improvements along the way will be pleasurable as well.

And that came up in Episode 50 of my Innovation Fika with Frida & Kim the other week, (Hey, Episode 50!) we were talking about Branding with a Purpose and towards the end we had a great comment from Daniel Fehrnstr?m about using the mentioned branding tools for personal branding as well, something both Frida and Kim agreed on, with Kim saying: "Think about what you want to achieve, what do you want to do and achieve, every day when you wake up, and what is your long term goal, it might be 50 years, and it might not even be reachable, but envision what you are aiming for."

"Think about what you want to achieve, what's your vision, and mission, what do you want to do and achieve every day when you wake up? And what is your long term goal? It might be 50 years, and it might not even be reachable, but envision what are you are aiming for" Kim Westerlund

For me, the chipping away has had a lot to do with exercise. In 2018 I did a 365 day runstreak, meaning that I ran every day for 365 days in a row, no matter what or where. That year saw a number of crazy episodes with me trying to find time and place to run, not always the easiest feat since it was a very travel intensive year as well. (I think I'll write a separate article about that year, too many good stories from that year to leave untold ??)

Funny thing is that I didn't get better at running, but I did get better at writing! Very early on during the runstreak I started posting stupid jokes about running on Instagram, which became a thing for me, that I had to come up with a lame joke every day, day in and day out, and oh yes, run as well, but that was secondary. It was the writing that became central, finally I was writing every day!

That of course turned into my daily posts here on LinkedIn, and still I find myself writing almost every day, even though I might not post every day.

Then just the other week I checked my Nordic Wellness app for the first time in ages. When I got my NW membership back in 2015 I was a regular member, so I collected points, or Triggz as they call them, getting a milkshake or a powerbar for every 1000 or so points (You get 100 points for every check-in or attended class.) and then bigger gifts for higher points achieved, like bag for 50 000 points etc. But then in 2017 I started giving classes as an instructor (again, after having quit being an instructor in 2014) which of course meant that my points didn't count for anything anymore. So I stopped counting and stopped checking the app, but kept on training.

Then the other week I opened the app again for the first time in I don't know how long, and could hardly believe my eyes!

WT...F! 200 000 points! That's 2000 check-ins. And even counting summer campaigns when you get double points for check-ins, that's still a heck of a lot of check-ins!

I'm only mentioning this because it surprised me to see how consistent I have been the past seven-eight years. Five days a week, almost every week. And the interesting thing is that I don't beat myself up if I miss a day or even a week, since I know that over the coming year or three years I'll get my training in anyway.

Consistency allows for exceptions.

And that same thing came up in all of the interviews with the amazing, unbelievable Olympic Gold medalist and world record holder Nils van der Poel. He is as much a deep thinker and philosopher as he is athlete. He trains harder than anyone else, five days a week, and then he allows himself two days off with friends and family, but as he states in his Training Manifesto "How to skate a 10k":

"During my last two seasons I regularly skated 240 laps of 30,0 weekly, alone and with lane change. I believe that I am the only skater ever to be able to do that continuously. I was not born this way, I worked for it."

And further down in the same manifesto:

"The main idea of my training program was that you will become good at whatever it is that you train." Nils van der Poel

Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images

So yes, you can become better at anything, if you set your mind to it.

Personally, today, I am aiming for my Daily Post #1000 daily posts and the 100th Episode of my Innovation Fika, but I also intend to enjoy every single post, every single episode and every single step on the way getting there.

What's your vision, or mission? What do you see yourself achieving in 1, 3, 10 or more years?

Create your vision, make it worthwhile, and then move towards it, day by day, one baby step at a time.