Here’s a problem I’ve faced recently: my obsessive focus on a small number of important project causes me to fall behind on the annoying little administrative stuff that pops up on a daily basis. I’m not talking about the regularly occurring minutia, like cleaning my apartment or working out: these can be easily handled with an autopilot schedule. I am referring, instead, to the random, unexpected productivity lint that regularly clogs my inbox and emanates a powerful aura of procrastination-inducing annoyance.
The important point is that you have some intentional way of keeping up with administrative tasks. If you don’t, these little thorns will pile up until everywhere you look you find sources of stress. Or worse, to avoid the stress, you stop looking.
Newport’s post describes one method—one which I don’t personally use—and links to another post describing another method. The two posts give a good overview of the problem he’s trying to solve, and some thought-provoking ways of trying to tackle it.
We had a little hotel room in Mariposa, just outside Yosemite Valley. We’d gone grocery shopping, and were day-tripping into the valley on the first bus of each day; the one the valley’s employees use each morning, so we were arriving before things were open. One morning we rented our own snow shoes, and packed a full lunch—hot soup and all. We bused up to Badger Pass ski area and took their guided snow shoe walking tour to the top of the pass. Eventually, everyone else turned around and walked back. We stomped some seats and a table into the deep snow, sat on our jackets in the glorious sun, and spent an hour having our lunch with this view.
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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US Parkour Association (part 4 of 4): Competition, certifications, and a request →
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.
Takeaways
Neutral stance on competition — USPK refrains from dictating competition formats, instead prioritizing safety and inclusivity across the community.
Role in coaching certifications — The organization seeks to set standards for safety and best practices rather than creating a proprietary certification system.
Diverse representation — The transition board brings together varied perspectives to reflect the community’s diversity and facilitate inclusive decision-making.
External pressures on Parkour — Parkour faces challenges from entities outside the community aiming to capitalize on its growth, necessitating vigilance and advocacy.
Importance of research and dialogue — Informed conversations based on facts are emphasized as vital for addressing controversies and progressing the community.
Building a unified voice — The USPK aims to identify areas of consensus within the community while respecting and preserving differing opinions.
Advocacy for engagement — Active participation in USPK by community members is encouraged to shape the organization’s direction and protect Parkour’s values.
Growth through collaboration — The potential for the Parkour community to advance lies in harnessing the collective expertise of diverse stakeholders.
Resources
USPK Official Website — Provides information about the United States Parkour Association and membership opportunities.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
