On this journey of life. This journey to live a life we love. Do we not need hope? Do we not need belief? Do we not need to know the impossible is possible?
Let’s see if we can find some.
Mr Arthur Boorman served in the American army as a Paratrooper. As a paratrooper, you jump out of planes wearing a parachute and heavy backpack. With a big gun, you try as quickly as possible to land without dying. Then get involved in the fight. These jumps are hard and damage your body each time you do them. The cumulative damage builds up over time, especially to the knees and back.
Boorman served in the Gulf war. Unfortunately, he got injured so badly he was medically discharged from the army.
After the army, Boorman worked as a special educational needs teacher. His health, fitness and well-being declined. Doctors told Boorman he would never walk unassisted again.
Over a 15 year period, Boorman’s weight ballooned to 297lbs. He required knee braces, a back brace, two walking canes and a wheelchair. Boorman was unable to dress and depended on his wife to help him. He suffered from sleep apnoea and was a prime candidate for a heart attack or stroke. Because he couldn’t walk unassisted, he believed he wouldn’t be able to work out or lose weight. To do those exercises such as running, cycling or swimming require your legs. He had tried getting into yoga. But all the teachers he had approached turned him away, they said they couldn’t help him.
Diamond Dallas Page was a professional wrestler. He suffered from ruptured discs in his spine quite early on in his wrestling career. He discovered the health benefits of yoga while recovering from these ruptured discs (through his ex-wife Kimberly). Page initially created a ‘Yoga for Regular Guys workout’ then went on to create the DDP Yoga programme. Boorman had thought that yoga was something he could do but nobody would teach him. Boorman was searching on the internet one night. He came across Diamond Dallas Page doing Yoga for Regular Guys. In Dallas’ programmes, he showed the use of chairs to help aid and modify the exercise. To help those who weren’t yet strong enough to do the standard movement. Dallas produced most of his DDP yoga programmes in books and on DVD. Boorman bought the DVD and practiced at home.
Arthur Boorman started off using the chairs to help modify the DDP yoga techniques. He was able to complete the exercise. He practiced daily, making small incremental progress. He eventually didn’t need the chairs anymore. As his strength and confidence grew he tried more difficult techniques. The knee and back braces eventually came off so Boorman was able to stand unaided. Then he started to walk more, going from two canes to one then from one to none. He could walk unaided.
Boorman didn’t stop there, he kept going, kept pushing himself. He started to do headstands, falling over and almost destroying his China cabinet. But he believed that ‘although he may not be able to do it today, that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to do it someday’. He built up his ability and he became able to stand on his head and to stand with one leg up in the air near his head. More significantly, he eventually was able to run, to sprint. He had been told he would never walk unassisted again, never mind run again.
Start smaller than what you think
Our ego builds in a minimum standard for doing an activity.
If I was going for a run, I would think I would need to run at least 5km. If was doing push-ups, I would think I would have to do at least 30 reps. If I was doing sit-ups, I would think I would have to do at least 50 reps. My ego tells me that to be a good work out and display the athletic qualities I want, I have to do these minimums. Even if it kills me. This means I will be sore for a few days. I then feel less likely to do it again. I would struggle to build the habit because it is hard. I have a ‘straight from the couch to 5km’ mentality. No in-between.
Would it be so bad if I went a bit slower? If I started off a bit smaller? If I started off lighter so I wasn’t as sore the next day and I could exercise again?
If I only did 5 push-ups and I wasn’t sore the next day, I could exercise again. I could do another 5 push-ups that next day. Then another 5 the next. And another. And another. I could build momentum. I could build an easy habit.
For Arthur Boorman, every Yoga teacher had a standard that was required for a student to enter their class. Boorman clearly didn’t meet that standard. Therefore, they felt they were unable to help him. Diamond Dallas Page, however, had lowered the standard. He added the use of chairs to make some of the exercises easier. He opened up Yoga to people who couldn’t meet everyone else’s standard. He started smaller.
If we start small we can remove the barriers to difficult things. We can build something sustainable. Something that will last. Something that will get us where we want to go.
Power of experimentation
If I have a performance to do or a presentation to deliver, I always want it to be perfect. I put lots of effort into planning and practice. I feel fear, stress, and anxiety leading up to the performance. My ego kicks in and I want to show everyone how good I am. What I can do. How awesome I am when I am at my best.
I will stick to what has worked for me in the past. Once I have some framework that works, I will rarely deviate from it.
What if I had the courage to experiment with my performance or presentation. What if I was willing to try something new and see how it panned out. What if I was not tied to the outcome. If I had the courage to see if it failed or succeeded without being emotional either way.
I have managed to do this is presentations and speeches. It is difficult though. I find it hard to park my ego. I have this perfectionist streak. I don’t like to fail. I don’t like to look like I have failed. I worry I look incompetent. I worry I look stupid. I worry people will think less of me. I worry people will not want to engage with me because I look like an idiot.
I have experimented with exaggerated body gestures in a speech. I felt silly doing it. But I have gained invaluable feedback. I have learned a valuable lesson. I now incorporate sections that allow me to act out a part of the speech. The speech is much more engaging for the audience. But to have the courage to try, to have the courage to be seen to fail, that’s a difficult thing to do. But possibly an invaluable one.
Arthur Boorman was willing to experiment with yoga, with DDP yoga. He probably had very few options left. Every yoga school has turned him away. He was willing to try to yoga on DVD at home. Yoga designed by a wrestler. Whilst I am sure he hoped it worked, he was more than likely prepared for the prospect of failure. And he tried it anyway.
If we were willing to experiment then perhaps we might find a better way of doing things. We might learn lessons we wouldn’t otherwise learn. We might experience things we wouldn’t otherwise experience.
Concentrate on the process
I like to dream of possibilities, of the future, of what could be. In martial arts, I dream of being in a ring, boxing an opponent. I am dodging all their punches. Bobbing and weaving. Slipping side to side. Then I take advantage of the positions I get in. A left hook to the liver, a left hook to the jaw, a right uppercut to the chin. I am in flow.
Walking the path to get there is a very different experience. When I spar, I get punched in the face, right on the nose. I don’t seem to be able to get out of the way quick enough. I struggle to get into positions to attack. Anything I throw misses or gets blocked.
I get frustrated, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I am better than this. I can be better than this. This isn’t how it feels in the dream. How do I sort this out? How do I fulfill the potential I feel I have? How do I live the dream?
I don’t think Arthur Boorman dreamed he would walk again, never mind run again. He possibly dreamed of losing some weight. Making things less bad. Making things just a bit better. He seemed to invest his time in the process and not the dream. He exercised every morning, diligently and consistently. Pushing himself. Making himself just a little better today than he was yesterday. Aiming to be better tomorrow than he is today. He invested in daily progress. In working out and getting better every day. He didn’t spend all his time dreaming. He spent his time doing. And I bet he was more than surprised where he ended up.
If we spend all our time dreaming of the outcome, and not in any of the doing, we can end up being frustrated and disappointed in the experience. Things aren’t as good as we expected. We aren’t what we hoped to be.
Instead, what if we didn’t dream of the outcome but just committed to the doing. What if we committed to working out every morning with no expectation about how we should perform. Only we should aim to perform better than yesterday. We wouldn’t be as disappointed, as we don’t have any expectations, or we have lower ones anyway. We aren’t comparing the experience to the end result. We are only comparing to what we have already achieved.
Takeaways
If you want to start something new, or something you have not done in a while, start smaller than what you think. It’s easier to do. It requires less motivation. It will then be easier to keep going. It will be sustainable and long-lasting.
If you want to learn and progress, you need to be willing to experiment. To try something and not be tied to the outcome. To be willing to experiment and be willing to fail. To put aside your ego. To put aside what you know, what already works.
If you want to make gains and progress, you need to be willing to forget about the outcome. To concentrate on the process. To take action daily. To be better today than you were yesterday. Dreaming might create a target but taking action will get us there. We might not be able to dream of what is possible. Of where we could go.
Footnotes
BJ Fogg has a website about tiny habits. Making the habit so small that it requires little motivation to do. Here is his ted talk explaining tiny habits:
Steve Kamb at Nerd Fitness writes about focusing on the process and not the goal. Here are one of his articles about it:
https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/for-the-love-of-the-game/
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