2023-07-30 Saturday - Consistent Intentional Variation and Experimentation

 

[image credit: Schäferle on pixabay.com]

 

Today's meditation:

In the worlds of music and sports - beginners are taught basic drills.

For most students, the majority of those drills will be repeated- week after week, month after month, year after year. This will usually produce deep connections - and elevate the student's ability to respond naturally.

Technically, these students may be well trained - but they will rarely be exceptional. Their abilities rarely evolve beyond rote repetition.

There is a parallel to this, in how most people perform their jobs - day after day, month after month, year after year.

However, some teachers/coaches will introduce slight variations in the drills - rarely repeating the exact same drill. This subtle difference in approach invariably produces students that progress faster, have more fluid and natural responses - and are more adept when confronted with new and novel situations.

Seeking consistent intentional variations in what we do, in how we do what we do - can help elevate our skills much faster, and more broadly - than we might imagine.

Variation and experimentation is the secret to mastery of any skill, or area of knowledge.

Embracing variation is the harder path - it forces us to break out of our comfortable rhythms. It is to embrace a continual cycle of renewal - and seeking our original Beginner's Mind.