Thought Provoking Reads
June 12, 2008 by Ryan
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I’ve recent run into several great, great, reads. One book. One blog. And one post in particular.
First, the book. I have to admit, when I read the title I thought it was a hokie. The 4-Hour Workweek. In my industry, I see a lot of big promises and many are barely more than complete scams. My skepticism kept me from getting the book for months, even though I had seen the author and the book in several places. What got me to break down and buy it was when I saw someone I knew had it. I don’t even think they were reading it, to be honest, but the simple fact that someone else had it made me give into my curiosity. I’m half way through and now it’s in the running to be my favorite book! I wouldn’t say that I’m ready to move to the 4-hour week, but the reading I’ve done has got me reevaluating how productive I am and how I go about my day. Once I finish the book, I’ll post a more in depth review, but I can already say, buy it!
Next, the blog. I know exactly why I didn’t jump on to this blog earlier. It was the use of “Zen” in it’s title. Partly because that word is way overused and partly because I may have a mistaken understanding about the word and the idea in the first place, but that’s why I was turned off. Zen Habits is, however, a must read. Each post I’ve read since I got over my issues with the title has been profound, well thought out, and immediately applicable to my day. He’s had great post about parenting, about work, about many areas I have neglected to assess in my own life. It’s one of those blogs I take the time to read each post rather than just scan.
Which bring me to the one post in particular.It’s actually a guest post by Josh Waitzkin, the real life little boy in Searching For Bobby Fischer. 7 Essential Habits for Tackling the Multitasking Virus. Let me just quote one section:
Let’s take the martial arts as an example—most people want to start off by learning ten or fifteen fancy techniques that they’ve seen in movies or watched the advanced students apply. This will lead to years of wasted time and hollow learning. The more powerful approach is to spend days, weeks, even months on one relatively simple technique. What happens then is quite beautiful. You start to get a sense for what it feels like to do something well with your body. Your mechanics become unobstructed, you experience a smooth fluidity, you focus on subtle ripples of sensation. Once you reach this point of full body flow, you can turn your attention to other techniques and you will very quickly internalize them at a high level, because you know what Quality feels like—or in less abstract language, you have internalized axioms that govern all techniques. This same process applies to chess. Learn a principle deeply, and it will manifest everywhere. Whatever we are cultivating, depth beats breadth any day of the week.
Some of the points has me evaluating the options for my children’s education, about my own education, and my current learning. Because you know what Quality feels like… I really wish I would have extended and stretched myself more in school. Not even necessarily in the classroom. In high school I didn’t do any sports. I didn’t join any clubs. Didn’t do anything really extracurricular. But I’ve seen the discipline and the ethic that training on the football team gave to some people. They did what Josh Waitzkin is talking about. That’s partly why I am a fan of Kobe Bryant, because to get his level, he had to develop that depth in the techniques on the court. It doesn’t need to be an athletic field. I wish I would have taken the one thing that I did fill lots of time with during high school, guitar and music, and extended it to that deeper learning. Now it makes sense why they want you to do scales over and over.
Take some time to read some of these yourself, it’ll be worth your time.
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You’re HOT!!
Thank you wife!
What did you think of this book. Is it real?
I’m not done with it yet, but everything I’ve read is solid and very real. I would say that it takes some confidence to arrange some of the things he suggests (ie working from home in a position that wasn’t set up to be). It asks you to change your perspective on retirement and freedom and what it means to be rich. Like I said, I haven’t finished it yet and already I would recommend it to anyone.