It is amazing how obvious things are once you figure them out. Something I struggle to understand, can instantly be glaringly obvious once some final, little piece clicks into place. Small things, big things, click, click, click.
Question: Which is better, to be at the click part marveling at how clear something is, or to be in the puzzling part doing the work?
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What role should a national governing body play in shaping the growth and development of Parkour?
Collaboration among diverse voices is shaping the future of Parkour through the USPK.
This episode explores the US Parkour Association’s (USPK) efforts to address competition, coaching certifications, and international pressures. The association adopts a neutral stance on competition, aiming to serve as a platform for diverse practices while prioritizing safety and sustainability. It acknowledges the varied opinions within the Parkour community and strives to ensure competitions reflect the values of the discipline.
Coaching certifications are another key topic, with USPK focusing on establishing standards rather than creating its own certifications. This approach aims to ensure that certifications emphasize safety, best practices, and legitimacy. Additionally, the conversation highlights the challenges of globalization and external organizations attempting to influence Parkour, stressing the importance of maintaining the sport’s cultural roots through active community involvement.
(more…)Decades ago my mother and I—but mostly her—got really into jigsaw puzzles. The puzzles being tackled grew bigger and bigger, as the size of the pieces grew smaller and smaller. We started buying puzzles that had higher quality die-cutting. …and things started getting out of hand, with me finding puzzles that had large areas of blue sky, or the top half of the image was various clouds. But still, these puzzles were defeated with brutal precision: corners, borders, sort by colors/patterns, divide and conquer.
I think the tipping point was when someone found a puzzle of 101 Dalmations. In a snow scene. It might have been die-cut from both sides with the backside printed solid white. (For you non puzzle-nuts: That means you can’t even tell if a piece is face-up or -down.) I think that’s the only puzzle that ever went back into its box unassembled.
I also think there’s a lesson in there somewhere about escalation and turning something fun into a chore.
Fortunately, I think we learned the lesson before I had to buy one of these, https://www.amazon.com/Beverly-Micro-White-Jigsaw-Puzzle/dp/B008DCQE3O
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In sum, there isn’t a clear ladder of actions a person can progress through, with easy unimportant ones at the bottom, and hard important ones at the top. There will be hard-for-you unimportant actions, and easy-for-you important actions. The last thing you should do if you come across a hard-for-you unimportant action is stop looking for other things to do.
~ Katja Grace, from Skill and leverage
Elsewhere, this is 4ulepo1. — slipbox
One variation of this is, “a messy desk shows an organized mind.” It’s not important that I do everything perfectly, have everything organized, and have no loose ends. In fact, that’s patently impossible. What matters is that I figure out what should be done perfectly, what should be organized and which loose ends should be tied up. Got it.
I’m currently spending a lot of time reflecting on being comfortable with some imperfectly done things, some disorganized things, and some loose ends. Not trying to complete nor eliminate those things, but rather, simply being comfortable with those things, in those states.
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What makes this moment so precarious is that most of us are unconscious, in the event, both of our aspiration and of our Resistance. We’re asleep. We know only that we feel bad. Something’s wrong. We’re restless, we’re bored, we’re angry; we’re seeking something grand but don’t know where to look
~ Steven Pressfield from, Resistance and Addiction
Elsewhere, this is 4usere1. — slipbox
These days, the skill of reflection is on my mind. I’ve become convinced that discovery, reflection, and efficacy are the three stepping stones to self-actualization. It seems to me that the way out of the Gordian knot presented by Pressfield is via reflection.
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And when you’re distracted? See what’s distracting you and choose, mindfully, what’s most important in that moment. Maybe what’s distracting you is worth your time after all.
~ Hugh MacCleod from «https://www.gapingvoid.com/blog/2017/06/27/how-to-stay-focused-at-work/»
But where your energy goes is where you’re going.
Elsewhere, this is 4ugabo11. — slipbox
Slowly I changed how I interact with waiters, how I reply to email, how I use my phone (note particularly that I use it and it never uses me,) how I chop wood, how I show up for video calls, how I walk, and so on, and so forth…
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Lastly, these remarks are inclusive. They’re about “us.” Whatever ordeal is coming, the company will undergo it together. Leonidas’s and Dienekes’s quips draw the individual out of his private terror and yoke him to the group.
~ Steven Pressfield from, The Warrior Sense of Humor
Elsewhere, this is 4usete1. — slipbox
This also ties into what makes a good team. I don’t mean hyperbolic imagining of the team as some military unit. Rather, plainly stating what lies ahead, what will be challenging, and what are the goals for the team builds cohesion. The more the team members understand each other, the better they can empathize. Only when there’s empathy—my ability to use it and your awareness that I can and do use it to better help and understand you—can the barriers of fear be removed; fear prevents people from asking for help and from asking how they can help others.
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Meetings always expand to fill the available time. Therefore, first be sure that the meeting has a goal and when the goal is achieved, the meeting is done. Second, things often go faster and better when there is a known deadline. To this end we almost always set an end time when scheduling a meeting.
But we usually pick one hour for a meeting’s duration. Then we try to schedule back-to-back meetings and are surprised when everything turns into a flurry of rushing to the next meeting… that meeting that starts at 4, right after the meeting that ended at 4. This never works.
Schedule all your meetings to be 45 minutes. Magic happens.
Everything gets done in the 45 minutes—or if doesn’t, you had far too much packed into your usual one-hour meeting—and you have time for the rest of your life between the meetings.
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What drives the creation and refinement of spaces and objects for parkour, and how do personal and communal experiences influence this process?
Tyson Cecka unpacks his design process, how he began to build parkour obstacles, and where he finds inspiration. He discusses his current plans and goals, and explains why he doesn’t consider himself a great artist or creator. Tyson shares his experiences with depression, how it’s affected his life, and how he’s working through it.
Failure should be a lesson. If you’re doing your trials correctly, every failure would be a lesson that you could then apply going forward.
~ Tyson Cecka (5:12)
This conversation centers on the intersection of creativity, movement, and mental resilience. Tyson discusses how his initial interest in parkour evolved into designing and building obstacles, driven by necessity and a desire to refine and optimize solutions for movement challenges. He explains how his creations are deeply informed by observing others and learning from failures.
The discussion also taps into broader themes of community influence, personal struggles with depression, and the balance between maintaining control over spaces and embracing organic creativity. Tyson reflects on the importance of spaces that allow for exploration and adaptation while highlighting the iterative process that shapes his work and life philosophy.
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