Weak as I am, I carry on the war to the last moment, I get a hundred pike thrusts, I return two hundred and I laugh. I see near my door Geneva on fire with quarrels over nothing, and I laugh again; And, thank god, I can look upon the world as a farce even when it becomes as tragic as it sometimes does. All comes out even at the end of the day, and all comes out still more even when all the days are over.
~ Voltaire
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I experimented by letting go of goals for a while and just going with the flow, but that produced even worse results. I know some people are fans of that style, but it hasnāt worked well for me. I make much better progress ā and Iām generally happier and more fulfilled ā when I wield greater conscious control over the direction of my life.
~ Steve Pavlina from, Do Your Goals Conflict with Your Personality?
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“Letting go” of my structures and goals is good for short-term health. I do this when I’m traveling, or when something unusual happens, (such as having a house guest for a weekend.) Letting go enables me to see if my default habits have changed, as I’m often working on some goal or project that involves habit change. Letting go creates space for serendipity.
But letting go does not get things done. My mind is meant to have ideas, not to hold them. Systems (a grocery list, a todo list, plans for projects, and so on) are how my mind creates the changes I want to see in the world.
Letting go certainly recharges me. It’s the restorative yin to my personality’s default yan.
É
This article got out of hand, and is 3,000 words. I encourage you to skip around; Thereās more discussion of specific tools and how-to material in the last third.
In the beginning, podcasts were simply audio files which people shared directly either by emailing them to each other, or by providing download links on their web sites.
RSS technology has been around for a while and provided a way for a web site to publish a āhereās whatās newā feed. It was soon realized that RSS could be used to provide a feed specifically of podcasts. Software able to retrieve and understand a podcast feed, could then automatically download the podcast files, and alert you of new episodes. Sharing a new show with friends then meant simply giving them the āfeed URLā which one would āsubscribe toā by adding it to your feed reader.
(more…)Exercise is not about weight loss.
Exercise builds physical ability and mental health.
For me, it began when I fell in love– with a bicycle.
Long after college, way down in my downward death spiral, I bought a cheap mountain bicycle. Today, I don’t recall what possessed me to even want to buy a bike. I guess it just reminded me of the freedom I’d discovered when as a kid I first set out on a bicycle.
At the time, we were living in an apartment a short ride from a long park that followed a meandering creek. The park has long trailsāsome asphalt, some packed gravelāthat follow the creek, and it has a few, short, side trails that almost resemble mountain biking.
I fell in love.
I fell in lust is probably more accurate.
(more…)What impact can parkour have on recovery and personal growth after a serious health challenge?
Nancy Lorentz opens up about her experience fighting cancer, and the role that parkour played in her recovery. She unpacks how her recovery inspired the idea of PK Move, and shares her āparkour origin story.ā Nancy discusses her thoughts on parkourās growth and spirit, PK Moveās current goals, and finishes with her insights on how to attract older individuals to parkour.
[A]t the time of the diagnosis and going forward from there, I was not thinking about how parkour was part of this until afterward. I think once you are in that situation, you’re just going through the steps and getting through the treatment and what you have to doā the surgery or whatever. The fact is that, it did occur to me afterwardā I thought, oh my gosh, [yes.] I really do say that parkour saved my life.
~ Nancy Lorentz (5:13)
Nancy Lorenz shares her personal journey of surviving cancer and how parkour became a crucial part of her recovery. She describes how the physical and mental resilience built through parkour helped her endure treatment and how this experience inspired her to co-found PK Move, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing parkour to underserved communities. The conversation covers her introduction to parkour, the challenges she faced during and after her illness, and how the supportive community around her played a significant role in her healing process.
The discussion highlights the mission and vision of PK Move, which focuses on providing adaptive parkour training to individuals who may face barriers to participating in traditional gym environments. Nancy details how PK Move brings parkour directly to people in their own communities, particularly targeting older adults and cancer survivors. Additionally, she reflects on the broader impact of parkour and the importance of preserving its core philosophy as it expands into mainstream fitness spaces.
(more…)One day Iāll be a filmmaker! One day Iāll be a famous artist! One day Iāll be a CEO! One day Iāll be a Creative Director! One day Iāll be a Venture Capitalist! And so forth.
~ Hugh MacLeod
Then you get to a certain age and you realize that the time for āOne Dayā is over. Youāre either doing it, or youāre not. And if youāre not, a feeling of bitter disappointment starts hitting you deep into the marrow. Which explains why we all know so many people in their 30s and 40s having mid-life crisisā.
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Whether I’m different, or have already passed through that, I know not. What I can tell you is that my problem is not at all a feeling of not doing what I want to do.
My problem is the feeling that I am doing too many different things. All things I’ve chosen. All things which I’m passionate about. All things which are cool, rewarding, meaningful and make the world a better place.
É
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has.
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No matter where your adventure takes you, most of what is truly meaningful is still to be found revolving around the mundane stuff you did before you embarked on your adventure. The stuff thatāll be still be going on long after you and I are both dead, long after our contribution to the world is forgotten.But often, one needs to have that big adventure before truly appreciating this. Going full circle. Exactly.
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I like this idea because it means that today, things are as bad as it can get.
I’m already super-busy, super-stressed, super-anxious, super-self-critical and super-distracted. I’m pretty sure that finishing another projectājust. one. more!āis not going to magically fulfill me. Somehow this lesson is easy to understand but hard to knowā¦ hard to integrate.
But “scale”? That’s something I really understand. I understand what happens with something that can scale, and something that cannot scale. So if humansāi.e., meādon’t scale, why do I keep trying to make me scale?
É
What factors contribute to the success of PK Moveās mission to make Parkour accessible to underserved communities and older adults?
PK Move founders Nancy Lorentz, Jean Lam, and Rosy Noguchi sit down to discuss everything PK Move; how they started, the challenges they face as a non-profit, and the unique relationship they have with their community. The team explains PK Moveās mission, the specific groups they serve, and the programs they run, including their PK Silver seniors program. They unpack the details of the recent study conducted on the PK Silver program before delving into the pop-up playground program, and their current goals and opportunities.
We wanted to go to them, people who had some barrier to getting to the gym. Sometimes it is financial. Sometimes it is being intimidated.
~ Nancy Lorentz (10:50)
PK Moveās founders discuss their nonprofitās mission to bring Parkour to underserved populations, particularly seniors and communities with limited access to traditional fitness facilities. They detail the origins of PK Move, describing how personal experiences and a shared passion for Parkour led them to develop programs that focus on inclusivity, confidence-building, and strength development. A major part of their work includes the PK Silver program, designed for older adults, which offers step-by-step Parkour training tailored to the needs of participants with low fitness levels.
The conversation explores the challenges PK Move faces as a nonprofit, such as fundraising and obtaining grants. They explain how they forged partnerships with local governments and community organizations to provide free and low-cost classes. The team highlights the success of their recent study, which demonstrates the effectiveness of PK Silver in improving cardiovascular health and strength among participants aged 60 to 80. Additionally, they touch on their pop-up Parkour playground initiative, which brings portable Parkour equipment to community parks to encourage physical activity in children and families.
And what better use could you make of that time? A day that could be your last ā you want to spend it in worry? In what other area could you make some progress while others might be sitting on the edges of their seat, passively awaiting some fate? Let the news come when it does. Be too busy working to care.
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