What the Body Can Teach Us About Effort
In our society, we love encouraging force as a way of achieving outcomes.
Email more prospects. Accomplish your 10-year goal in six months. Put in more hours. Work more. Work faster. Work harder. ?
We equate results with strenuous effort.
But I’ve been thinking a lot about physiology and movement. For my entire life, I’ve engaged in practices that utilize the body. And I’ve learned that whether you want to play the piano, do a yoga arm balance or perform a powerful martial arts kick, success is based on creating a structure for energy to move freely.?
When a pianist plays a difficult piece, all we see are fast-moving fingers. What's deceptive is that the movement is not originating in the fingers – it almost always originates from somewhere in the core of the body. The movement draws from a strong foundation and proper posture.?
In the same way, a martial arts kick doesn't originate from the foot, nor does an advanced yoga pose originate from the biceps, nor does even an operatic high note originate from the throat. The core holds the strength. And that strength is incomprehensible when compared to the extremities.?
领英推荐
In fact, using too much force from places we don’t have strength will lead to injury. And over a long period of time, it will debilitate. Rather than “making” our body do something, we just have to create the right geometry.
In the same way, how can we create the structures for energy to flow unimpeded in our work and personal lives?
A lot of the work is in removing obstacles.?
Figuring out how we work best. Where we work best. What narratives and stories might be holding us back. What self-sabotaging habits do we engage in? Where we might ask for help. Where we might find leverage.
It’s an intentional process of creating the correct geometry. A powerful structure. And ultimately, creating ease. It's not that we do nothing; it's that we create a clear path to generate momentum.?
That's how singers hit high notes and pianists play at blinding speeds and martial artists break solid objects. And that’s how we might accomplish our goals – small or ambitious.?
So where are your foundations? Where is your core? And how might you use them to create true, sustained, renewable momentum?