Building blocks, looked at in isolation, these small little pieces can look insignificant, but they finally add up to the magnificent whole that is a beautiful skyscraper, a car that with twin silencers, a garden and many many more. Many a kid has longingly looked at a group of blocks and a glossy sheet of paper that shows what the blocks should become into, and wondered if there was a way to quickly put it all together.
The other day I was with my drums instructor asking him to teach me how to do comping (check out the first 22 secs of this video) and he gave me a series of exercises to work upon, all of them nowhere near sounding like what this guy does here, but would eventually add up. Let me tell you, these exercises are real boring, require a lot of patience because they are tough, and take a long time to master. But the idea is that comping can be done ONLY if I master these exercises. So it is a small, boring building block, but one that ensures the larger beautiful picture is painted.
Discipline in such small things is what makes people achieve greatness eventually. There is a constant urge, a push towards the big thing too early, that you see all around in general. What this does is, it leaves the person demotivated as the goal cant be reached without its foundations being proper. You could try day after day, hour after hour, to swim the perfect lap, but unless you spend that considerable amount of time practicing your breathing, it won't happen the way you want it to. You can't write a best-seller straight up, unless you brush up on your writing basics, spend that time tossing sheet after written sheet in the dustbin because you thought you could do lot better.
After years of lifting weights in the gym (some entirely not in the right poses, I think now, in retrospect), my back finally gave way last year. I suffered tremendous discomfort due to the herniated disc for about a fortnight, and then slowly was at least on my feet able to walk. The recovery was agonizingly painful for someone like me who likes to be out of my home playing, cycling, hitting the gym and all of that. I was advised to do one thing at a time, and not to stretch it a lot. Finally now, I am back at the gym and putting in a lot of focus on doing things the right way and not as much on how much weight I lift. But more importantly, I have started doing the one thing I always kept away from - Yoga!
I know that unless I strengthen my back all the effort I put in the gym is going to come to a naught pretty soon as I am sure to get injured. So I take the pains of getting up at 430 am at least once a week (I should be doing more ideally) and hit the 5 am yoga class. It is tough, my body isn't very flexible, getting up so early is not my cuppa, but I tell myself that unless I do it, I won't achieve my related goals in life.
So figure out those foundation blocks that are unique to the things you want to excel in in your life, and work on them. It is painful, it can be irritating at times, and ironically, might even seem like they are standing in your way of achieving your goal faster as you are spending so much time on these foundation blocks, but every minute spent is only going to take you closer to excellence.
The other day I was with my drums instructor asking him to teach me how to do comping (check out the first 22 secs of this video) and he gave me a series of exercises to work upon, all of them nowhere near sounding like what this guy does here, but would eventually add up. Let me tell you, these exercises are real boring, require a lot of patience because they are tough, and take a long time to master. But the idea is that comping can be done ONLY if I master these exercises. So it is a small, boring building block, but one that ensures the larger beautiful picture is painted.
Discipline in such small things is what makes people achieve greatness eventually. There is a constant urge, a push towards the big thing too early, that you see all around in general. What this does is, it leaves the person demotivated as the goal cant be reached without its foundations being proper. You could try day after day, hour after hour, to swim the perfect lap, but unless you spend that considerable amount of time practicing your breathing, it won't happen the way you want it to. You can't write a best-seller straight up, unless you brush up on your writing basics, spend that time tossing sheet after written sheet in the dustbin because you thought you could do lot better.
After years of lifting weights in the gym (some entirely not in the right poses, I think now, in retrospect), my back finally gave way last year. I suffered tremendous discomfort due to the herniated disc for about a fortnight, and then slowly was at least on my feet able to walk. The recovery was agonizingly painful for someone like me who likes to be out of my home playing, cycling, hitting the gym and all of that. I was advised to do one thing at a time, and not to stretch it a lot. Finally now, I am back at the gym and putting in a lot of focus on doing things the right way and not as much on how much weight I lift. But more importantly, I have started doing the one thing I always kept away from - Yoga!
I know that unless I strengthen my back all the effort I put in the gym is going to come to a naught pretty soon as I am sure to get injured. So I take the pains of getting up at 430 am at least once a week (I should be doing more ideally) and hit the 5 am yoga class. It is tough, my body isn't very flexible, getting up so early is not my cuppa, but I tell myself that unless I do it, I won't achieve my related goals in life.
So figure out those foundation blocks that are unique to the things you want to excel in in your life, and work on them. It is painful, it can be irritating at times, and ironically, might even seem like they are standing in your way of achieving your goal faster as you are spending so much time on these foundation blocks, but every minute spent is only going to take you closer to excellence.
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