One day I’ll be a filmmaker! One day I’ll be a famous artist! One day I’ll be a CEO! One day I’ll be a Creative Director! One day I’ll be a Venture Capitalist! And so forth.
Then you get to a certain age and you realize that the time for “One Day” is over. You’re either doing it, or you’re not. And if you’re 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 crisis’.
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.
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 that’ll 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.
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 project—just. one. more!—is not going to magically fulfill me. Somehow this lesson is easy to understand but hard to know… 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 humans—i.e., me—don’t scale, why do I keep trying to make me scale?
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PK Move: Community partnership, programs, and seniors →
What factors contribute to the success of PK Move’s 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 Move’s 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 Move’s founders discuss their nonprofit’s 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.
Takeaways
PK Move’s origin — The nonprofit was founded to bring the transformative benefits of Parkour to underserved communities.
PK Silver program — A structured Parkour program designed for older adults with low levels of physical activity.
Community partnerships — PK Move collaborates with city parks and recreation departments to offer outdoor and indoor classes.
Fundraising challenges — The organization relies heavily on grants, community donations, and volunteer support to sustain its programs.
Accessibility focus — Classes are held in public parks and community spaces, ensuring accessibility for participants who may feel intimidated by traditional gyms.
Pop-up playground — PK Move created a portable Parkour playground to engage children and families in physical activity in underserved areas.
Health benefits — A university-led study demonstrated improvements in cardiovascular health and strength among PK Silver participants.
Volunteers’ role — The majority of PK Move’s classes and programs are run by volunteers, including experienced Parkour coaches.
Future goals — PK Move aims to expand to more cities and conduct additional studies to solidify their evidence-based program.
Resources
PK Move official site — The nonprofit’s website with information on programs, events, and ways to donate or volunteer.
And what better use could you make of that time? A day that could be your last — 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.
At the dawn of the internet, posting a commercial message was the indicator used by everyone to point and say, “that is spam.”
This was a huge mistake. Because it led to a deep rabbit-hole of requiring us to answer the question: Is this message commercial?
I think it’s commercial? …do you? Wait what is “commercial” is it any time we exchange any amount of value? That’d be two people talking! “Commercial” isn’t inherently bad… Ok, but we need to agree so we can make a decision! Is “we” a few of us in this space, or does the poster’s opinion matter? Does their “street credit” in the space affect how much we value their opinion? Maybe we can rate-limit how many border-line-commercial messages each person can… Oh, wait, I know! Let’s appoint someone to be the arbiter of this space and… deep. deep. rabbit. hole.
And we went to great length to try to place (move, cajoul, beg, etc) the commercial stuff into designated areas.
It’s not commercial that is the problem. SURPRISE is the problem. If something is unexpected, it better be perceived as desired. It’s not the content of the message (post, email, phone, whatever) that matters, it’s the recipient’s REACTION that matters.
That phone call at dinner from the caller ID you do not recognize—unexpected and undesired—spam!
The garage that fixed my car that later robo-calls me to beg me to 5-star rate them—unexpected and undesired—spam!
The web site pop-up dialog talking about…—spam!
So the first challenge is to get control of the channels. I’ve moved away from anything where random people can easily interrupt me. (Where “moved away” means everything from literally eliminate said thing, to change or reconfigure how it works, etc. My “inner circle” of people can easily surprise me, of course!) This drastically reduces surprises, and so drastically reduces spam.
Then the second challenge is to locate the channels that contain the information—including commercial information—which I want to receive. My favorite clothing retailer has learned that I like to be surprised with email from them. Commercial? …absolutely. Spam? …yes, please.
Thank you for giving me a few moments of your time.
Every moment—well, minus the 1/3 of my life when I’m horizontal and unconscious—I have the power to exercise my free will to decide what to do with my time. Since you are on the Internet, you likely also have this power and freedom. (Many people do not.)
Which moments do I regret? The ones where my choices were not intentional. Moments where I was habitual. Moments where I was reactive.
Ownership is somewhat of a gray area, both with physical and virtual real estate. I use the term loosely here. Ownership depends on how much control you have over the property, so we have a spectrum of possibilities. For instance, if you want to discover who really owns your home, stop paying your property taxes for a while and see what happens.
This pull-quote has little to do with the linked article. It simply made me laugh out loud—for real, in the literal sense. If you’ve not owned a house, you cannot aprehend property taxes. I digress.
Just before this article by Steve, I had read a short piece about adulthood and children. A piece about parents who give children too much choice. It contained a thought or three about:
Why would I want to grow up and have to accept all the responsibility, when I already have all the freedom and luxury?
That is one of the Big Questions. The day on which I understood the answer was the 3rd most important day of my life.
The thing I care the most about: what do you do when no one is looking, what do you make when it’s not an immediate part of your job… how many push ups do you do, just because you can?
Stumbled over this 8-year-old post from Seth. It’s suprisingly apropos—confirmation bias in action I suppose—of a conversation I just had.
There are two ways I can go with my thoughts on this: It turns out that I do a lot push-ups, (and other things, “Hello, Art du Déplacement,”) just because I can. But I think there’s a more interesting thread I can pull from this serendipity.
I don’t trust inspiration. I don’t trust it to show up, let alone motivate me. If something inspires me, I channel that energy to envision the path which could make the inspiring idea into some reality. I use moments of inspiration to propel me into doing the hard work of figuring out the next possible step. …and the step after that. …and after that.
The rest of the time—most of the time in fact—all I’m doing is working my systems. A bit of this, a bit of that, some of this, and some of that.