Dan Edwardes: Motivation, efficacy, and storytelling →

Published October 16, 2019  ·  All posts on Oct 16  ·  

Dan Edwardes: Motivation, efficacy, and storytelling

How can people maintain discipline, stay motivated, and effectively manage distractions to pursue personal growth and self-improvement?

Dan Edwardes explains the value of playing games, and unpacks what motivates him. He discusses the struggle of choosing where to spend your time and energy, and the difficulty of distractions. Dan shares his insights on parkour’s relationship to self efficacy, and the power and importance of storytelling.

When asked: How do you manage to get up every day and keep doing what you do to live your life? How do you stay motivated?

It’s a good question. And it’s not one that I’ve ever had to really ask of myself, I think, in great depth. […] Because of the stories I grew up on and what I exposed myself to when I was very young, the concepts I exposed myself to and took very seriously when I was nine, 10, 11 years old. And then throughout my teenage years, that’s just how I think. And I can’t really remember being alive before that because I don’t remember being that young. That’s just the way my life has always been.

~ Dan Edwardes (8:30)

The conversation explores the intersection of discipline, motivation, and the challenges of maintaining focus in a world full of distractions. Dan shares insights from his lifelong journey through martial arts, parkour, and various forms of training. A key theme is the importance of grounding oneself in simple, repetitive practices—like sweeping the floor in martial arts—as a foundation for developing broader skills.

Edwardes emphasizes the role of storytelling in shaping experiences, both in training sessions and life. Whether through parkour or verbal games, the practice of crafting narratives enhances learning and engagement. The discussion also touches on practical ways to manage modern distractions, such as altering how one uses their phone, reinforcing the importance of small, intentional changes to promote clarity and focus.

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Productivity heaven →

Published October 15, 2019  ·  All posts on Oct 15  ·  

I was recently a guest on the Productivity Heaven podcast. The host Jey Jeyendran is super-curious about productivity and podcasting. Check it out on Apple Podcasts or on Google Podcasts

Be proactive →

Published October 12, 2019  ·  All posts on Oct 12  ·  

While the word “proactivity” is now fairly common in management literature, it is a word you won’t find in most dictionaries. It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our beavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.

~ Stephen Covey

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Seattle and back again →

Published October 9, 2019  ·  All posts on Oct 9  ·  

I think I may finally have reached a point where travelling is all-out pleasant. Not the sacharine, “I’m excited to be going on a vacation,” pleasant, but the really core-deep, “if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is,” sort of pleasant.

For a long time I’ve been dutifully posting every day. It’s important to me because it involves writing and I’m a firm believer of: If you cannot write clearly, then you don’t think as clearly as you think you do. But as I departed for Seattle, I was simply okay with knowing I wasn’t going to write for a week (or more, as it turns out.)

Mind you, I get stopped by TSA every time. Even now that I’ve registered with the TSA as a known traveler, I still get “pulled aside.” On the way out, they looked for the podcast audio cables. On the way back, they wanted to see my bar of soap. Mind you, they’ve run a background check on me, and fingerprinted me to register as a “known traveler.” But at least I get to go to the speedy line for being pulled aside. And it was still pleasant. So many great things lay ahead and behind during both legs of the trip, that I was just like, “if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.” And, “yes sir, you’ll find the soap in that little black zipper back, in the black plastic case. It’s shaped liked a bar of soap. #sorrynotsorry about the hair.”

Driving into and out of the Cascade Mountains? Bonkers awesome. (Words fail me in case you cannot tell.)

Spending days with 100 friends old and new? Bonkers awesome.

Rustic cabin, roaring wood stove, food, conversations, 30 interviews with all the event presenters and session leaders, and the massive waves of positive comments and thank-you-s for the entire Movers Mindset project and team? Bonkers awesome.

Seattle AirBNB, coffee, 7 incredible interviews for the podcast, coffee, dinnerS with local friends, coffee, playing in Volunteer Park barefoot in “the tree,” coffee, random organic apples, coffee, more friends, more coffee? Bonkers. Awesome.

Home, then exhausted, then bronchitis and maybe some GI complications from my new friend Lyme Disease? Seriously, still bonkers awesome.

Chilly fall evening, grill going, sunset? Definitely bonkers awesome.

If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.

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Chris and Shirley Darlington-Rowat: Serendipity, family, and relationships →

Published October 9, 2019  ·  All posts on Oct 9  ·  

Chris and Shirley Darlington-Rowat: Serendipity, family, and relationships

How do movement, coaching, and family intersect to shape personal growth and relationships over time?

Chris Rowat and Shirley Darlington-Rowat discuss serendipity, coaching, and Chris’s work with the fire brigade. They share their thoughts on raising kids, setting aside time for family, and training and moving together. Shirley and Chris share their current struggles, some stories about their past, and how parkour has affected their relationship.

You should both be able to enjoy your lives. So if we enjoy training and it’s a part of our lives, we shouldn’t suppress that. We should just find ways to bring it all together.

~ Chris Rowat (31:27)

The conversation covers the intersection of parkour, family, and coaching, exploring how movement shapes personal relationships and growth. Chris and Shirley discuss serendipity, recalling stories of chance encounters and how unexpected moments influence their lives. They reflect on how their shared passion for parkour has not only shaped their relationship but also influenced how they raise their children, focusing on movement as play rather than formal practice.

[My son Tyler] didn’t see it as parkour, it was just movement. So he’d be in the play park and he’d maybe cycle on his bike to the climbing wall, climb up the little climbing wall, jump across a little piece of railing. He just moved. Movement is movement, right? So whatever [our daughter Indy] wants to do, she can do, if she doesn’t want to do parkour. She’ll do it naturally anyway because it’s normal for that too.

~ Shirley Darlington-Rowat (12:27)

Chris speaks about balancing his career with the London Fire Brigade and his role as a father, highlighting the discipline and adaptability required in both spheres. Shirley emphasizes the importance of maintaining personal movement practices during motherhood and reflects on how physical training can coexist with family life. The conversation weaves between stories of parenting, training, and the philosophy of finding balance and joy in movement.

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Dan Timms: Injury, strength, and Parkour UK →

Published October 2, 2019  ·  All posts on Oct 2  ·  

Dan Timms: Injury, strength, and Parkour UK

How can experiences with injury and recovery inform sustainable parkour training and coaching practices?

Dan Timms describes his journey with injury and recovery, and how it helped to shape his thoughts about sustainability. He discusses training methods, the forces involved in parkour, and his approach to coaching. Dan unpacks Parkour UK, what it is, what it does, and his involvement with it, before sharing his insight on designing parkour parks.

You see where this is going already. This one didn’t have a mesh floor at the top, so I’ve just speed-vaulted over this wall into this turret, and I looked down and there’s nothing beneath me for about 40 feet.

~ Dan Timms (5:09)

The conversation explores the evolution of sustainable training practices in parkour, largely shaped by experiences with injury and recovery. Reflections on major injuries, such as a near-fatal fall and multiple surgeries, frame the discussion around balancing intense training with long-term health. Insights include the role of strength training, mobility work, and the importance of consistency over quick fixes.

The dialogue also touches on community involvement and governance, highlighting efforts within Parkour UK to standardize coaching certifications and establish Parkour Earth. Additionally, Dan shares real-life applications of parkour, recounting moments where training directly contributed to personal safety and community assistance, including intervening in a robbery.

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Andy Fisher: Teaching, journey, and efficacy →

Published September 25, 2019  ·  All posts on Sep 25  ·  

Andy Fisher: Teaching, journey, and efficacy

How can personal passion projects and unconventional pursuits outside the classroom enhance teaching effectiveness and foster authentic connections with students?

Andy Fisher discusses being a teacher, why he loves it, and how his pursuit of his passions relates to the classroom. He shares his unique and unexpected movement journey before explaining how all of that relates to the passion projects he regularly pursues, such as the Thronin and Hero Forge projects. Andy discusses his thoughts on efficacy, his current struggles and how he manages and works towards overcoming them.

At the age of 11, I was sent to a boarding school in the UK […] Every morning at seven o’clock, an alarm bell was rung, and all of the kids got up, and we had to do a two and a half-mile run. I was the last to come through wheezing and coughing, and by the time I showed up, all the breakfast had gone. There was just a certain point where I just thought, ‘Enough, I’m not going to have this define my life.’ I made the decision that I wasn’t going to be defined by my condition, and that I could grow.

~ Andy Fisher (12:53)

The conversation explores how unconventional pursuits such as knife-throwing, wilderness survival, and circus performance inform and enhance teaching practice. By bringing these passion projects into the classroom, the importance of authentic connection and engaging with students beyond the curriculum emerges. Themes of resilience, personal growth, and fostering curiosity run throughout the dialogue.

Andy Fisher discusses his journey from asthmatic child to martial artist, teacher, and survival instructor, illustrating how personal challenge translates into valuable lessons for students. The balance between discipline and compassion plays a critical role in shaping both his personal life and professional teaching philosophy.

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Slower than a bee →

Published September 19, 2019  ·  All posts on Sep 19  ·  ,

This vignette, seen in a certain way—as though it is happening, but not happening to me—can be just what it is, without any entanglement with my own interests. None of my reflexive moral judgments are present. The angle of the sun doesn’t remind me of everything I still have to get done today. Seeing twenty-year-old students doesn’t make me wish I was younger. Because I’m not here. It’s just life unfolding, and on its own it’s beautiful.

~ David Cain, from How To See Things As They Are

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If you sit still, you can do what he’s describing anywhere. (You’ll have to go at least skim the article.) But if you sit still and do the visualization in nature, you will be immediately rewarded.

The world moves at its own pace. Somehow, it’s neither always faster nor slower than my normal pace. It’s a fundamentally different kind of pace that encompasses all the range of speeds. Regardless of speed, it’s unhurried. Meanwhile, it turns out that I’m completely capable of hurrying at various speeds. But sitting still and noticing the pace of the world always provides me with striking perspective.

There are so many varied speeds; Bees and birds, wind and trees, sun and moon, and there are slower speeds of course, but I can’t see those. If I pay extreme attention, in just the right situation, I can see a shadow cast by the sun moving. But that’s as slow as I can see—something that moves on the scale of one day.

Have you ever stopped to consider the speed of a bee? Do bees even notice we are moving? Are we just these large-ish pieces of their environment which are always in different places when they return “tomorrow” (aka, a minute later in our timeframe)? It seems obvious to me that the bees are going too fast and are missing EVERYTHING. (Well, sure, pollination and bee-production they’ve got.) But from my enlightened, lofty perch of slower-than-the-bee, I can see so much more.

Which makes me wonder: From my lowly perch of faster-than-a-lot-of-other-things, what am I missing?

ɕ

Kasturi Torchia: Mental wellbeing, Esprit Concrete, and sharing →

Published September 18, 2019  ·  All posts on Sep 18  ·  

Kasturi Torchia: Mental wellbeing, Esprit Concrete, and sharing

How can the integration of psychology and movement practices contribute to mental wellbeing and personal growth?

Kasturi Torchia describes her role with Parkour UK, and how she came to be involved in mental wellbeing and psychology studies. She discusses her family and how they impacted her journey, before unpacking the Esprit Concrete method she has developed. Kasturi shares some of her goals and what she is working on with Esprit Concrete, and discusses the yearly Les Dames du Movement event.

Esprit Concrete is something that was so organic, that it’s really hard to pinpoint what exactly [started it.] But I think that the really strange encounter that I had with Parkour, came at a really important time in my life where I was reflecting on what was happening and trying to make a change. I just needed something, without knowing that I needed it, to jolt me into seeing things differently, changing perspectives on things.

~ Kasturi Torchia (6:30)

The conversation explores the intersection of psychology and movement, focusing on how Kasturi’s personal experiences led her to create the Esprit Concrete Method. Her work integrates psychological principles with Parkour and Art du Déplacement, addressing mental wellbeing through movement. Kasturi reflects on how childhood influences and a desire to understand human behavior guided her journey towards psychology.

Another key topic is the development of the Esprit Concrete Method as a tool for self-reflection and personal growth. The method helps participants confront vulnerabilities and use movement as a metaphor for psychological challenges. Kasturi also highlights the significance of community events, such as Les Dames Du Movement, which bring together diverse practitioners to foster learning and collaboration.

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Autumn →

Published September 18, 2019  ·  All posts on Sep 18

I love autumn.

There’s something about chilly mornings and cold nights—good sleeping weather as we said when I was a kid.

Don’t get me wrong, summer is nice too. As a kid, of course summer was awesome. But the problem with summer was sleeping. Back in the day, we didn’t always have air conditioning. This wasn’t a deal-breaker but there would always be the occassional stretch of days where you’d simply lay stewing in your own juices rather than actually sleeping. Which leads to a particular thing about summer which I suspect I will always love: The late-night summer thunderstorm.

I’m not talking about your run of the mill evening summer thunderstorm. Those are a dime a dozen. They’re neat and all, but they can’t hold a candle to a late-night summer thunderstorm.

As I mentioned, I grew up mostly without air conditioning, and so I slept with the windows open. I had the “weather” corner of the house growing up. That means the normal wind, and so most storms, arrived at my corner of the house. It always started with a low rumbling in the distance. Soon I’d see some silent flashes of light. (I grew up in a house in the country, more in the woods than not. Night was dark.) Soon the rumbling would correspond to the flashes. Then, decreasing time between the flash and the boom. “14… 15… 16… rumble …four miles!” Then the rising wind in the trees, and then, finally, the wind from the downdraft of the stormfront. Scant seconds of cool wind, sometimes cold, occasionally frigid—in which case it was going to hail and storm like hell—would blow the stagnant air from the entire house. I’d stand by the window closing it inch by inch as the rain struck the screen. When the window sill was more wet than dry, it was time to close the window until the storm passed. We had a 3-foot exhaust fan in the ceiling in the hallway that could pull the air through the entire house. Someone would get up and run that fan after a thunderstorm, and it was the best air conditioning. After a while, we’d turn the fan off, and I’d lay in bed falling asleep to the raucous sound of crickets, the storm rumbling away bringing its rain and cool to the next community, and the smell of wet earth and trees.

Where was I? …oh yes, autumn.

Yes, please. :)

ɕ