Outlined, not detailed

Detailed Plans

The best way to signal to the world your commitment to a cause is to throw a 100 page detailed plan to its face, showing, step by step how you are about to conquer it, how you thought about everything in advance, how there is no way you are going to fail because you know everything in advance. Some of the steps to make such a plan work are: a big lofty goal, a primary and a bunch of support activities, planning for success and failure, milestones, measurements and reports among many other activities that will determine if you are on track or not.

That is a lot of up-front work and a lot of knowledge in many areas to make the planning and a lot of discipline required to stick to the plan and make it work. What if half way through you realize you are on the wrong path? Are you ready to accept that the last 6 months of hard work and discipline have been wasted? You might have gained a sense of what hard work looks like and it will definitely will improve your attitude in order areas of your life but will you be ready to accept the sunk cost a move on? As for discipline, you can build it even by napping if are willing to stick to it no matter the conditions in your environment.

This approach to planning is great for the main activity of your life, it’s the only way to build skyscrapers, railroads, enterprises and any other big lofty goal. And if that is what you want to accomplish in your practice, good luck to you because that is not practice, that is competition and it is ruthless.

Outlined Practice

Guardrails stand at the foundation of the practice, what to do and what not to do is essential for avoiding complexity.

• When and when not to practice.

  6 days a week and take one Active Rest Day. I find it a good way to transition from work to leisure.
• How much you should practice.

  Between 15 and 35 minutes, sometimes I go up to 60 minutes but never beyond.
• What and what not to practice.

  Mainly kettlebells and sometimes bodyweight and outside running. If it requires big sizes equipment it’s an instant no.
• Where and where not to practice.
  Wherever I can do some exercises but never on crowded spaces.
• How and how not to practice.
  
100% intensity. If 10 minutes is all I can do in a given day, it is fine and way better than 30 half-assed minutes.

It’s totally up to you to decide how to define those guardrails.

Planning as you go gives you the chance to easily adjust to upcoming plans and hiccups. Are you planning a hike? You better start doing some explosive and endurance exercises like swings and snatches. Are you interested in picking up a new hobby? How about you do only some swings for a few days to focus on the new activity. An injury doesn’t let you do presses but that’s what the big plan said you have to do today because you have to peak because you have to stay on track no matter to accomplish an artificial goal, what now? Well, if you are practicing you can do some get-ups and move on.

The targets for the next practice, for the next week, for the next month are never set. Changes and improvements happen organically. There is only much effort our nervous system can take that is beneficial. Go a little bit above that threshold and you will grow. From time to time you can stretch way beyond the limit to see where you actually give up but do it often and your base threshold will actually shrink in order to protect yourself. This is part of the “lizard brain” and you can’t directly influence its behaviour. What you can actually do is show to that “lizard brain” that you are an ally by pressing the break when you have emptied your daily tank and it will allow you to stretch it when there is still gas in the tank.

At first, it can be daunting to voluntarily do less than what it is possible to do when everyone else is “working at 120%”, “sleeping 4 hours”, “4 hours gym sessions”; but then you will realize that is has to fit you, your lifestyle and your goals first and exceptional results are secondary.