Tag Archives: expertise

The Prerequisite to You Living a Fulfilled Life

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There are several tendencies and assumptions we have in our culture, here in the United States. Here are a few:

Being a specialist is better than being generalist
You have to have certain credentials in order to do certain things
Only experts are allowed to have opinions about things
People who publish things or appear in media (film, tv, etc.) are experts
Boys are X way and girls are Y way

What all of these things have in common is this – we recognize certain differences between oppositions that we’ve created in our minds and then we cling tenaciously to those differences.

Once we’ve done that, we do what’s called “meaning making” – we create the reasons why the differences we’ve decided upon are right (correct).

We do it after the fact. Rarely are we allowed to come to our own decision about something. As a matter of fact, once you’re old enough to read and understand the words in this blog post, you have enough prejudices about the precise definitions and meanings of different things, words and relationships, that, unless you’re consciously trying to be open (or doing some kind of drug), you are automatically using meanings that were given to you from the day you were born by your parents and culture.

A person’s “qualifications” (usually seen, in our culture, in their resume or “curriculum vitae”) simply list the types of things they did before they started to do what they’re doing now.

That is, a resume or CV is relatively meaningless by itself. When the person began doing what they’re doing now, they were in the same position as any beginner.

This is not to say that you can just start doing something and be as proficient as someone who has been doing it for 10 years. That doesn’t make any sense.

What I am saying here is that everyone starts from where they’re at, at the moment at which they start.

What I’m saying here is – no matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, turn back.

What I’m saying here is – whatever it is that you want to do in life – START NOW.

In Athletics – It’s Not The Shoes…

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I was blown away recently when I stumbled on this article on Stack magazine online.  It’s called “Training Trends with Under Armour,” and is about a year old at this point.

The “trends” they’re talking about are shoes.  Specifically, three shoes produced by Under Armour, called the UA Proto Power Trainer, UA Proto Speed Trainer and UA Proto Evade Trainer.

Under Armour has created the three shoes to provide foot support for three different types of training – sagittal plane (frontward/backward), frontal plane (side-to-side), and “vertical” plane training.

Essentially, you now need three different sets of shoes in order to practice properly in the off-season.  I would guess, too, that you’d need to change shoes in the middle of your workout, as you transitioned from training in one plane to the other.  Unless, of course, you only trained in a particular plane in each workout.

Aside from the fact that this “informational article” is obviously an advertisement, and that the “logic” behind these shoes is more about making money than about improving human performance – I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  People will obviously be buying these shoes, and buying the message that goes with them.  Under Armour is a huge company, that wouldn’t have invested resources into producing and marketing these shoes unless their market research said they’d be successful.

For all of the athletes out there using these shoes, I have a couple of questions.  The first is the one I pose above – how do you train?  Do you have to change your shoes during each workout, or do you just focus on one plane of movement each workout?

The second question I have for you guys is – what happens when you’re on the field of play?  Do all of your abilities meld together magically in the heat of the moment?  Do you miss the specific cushioning provided by the shoes when you have to lace up your old Nike cleats?

Meanwhile, Under Armour, I assume you’ve done some real scientific research to back up the claims made about your shoes.  Can I see it?  And can you justify the increase in your carbon footprint (and the amount of garbage in the world) with that science?

I have to reiterate that shoes are essentially bad for you.  They’re necessary because of the way we’ve structured our man-made environment – as a cold, hard place.  But they’re accessories to the body, not enhancements.  People who excel in sports excel in any shoes.  They have put in the hard work to perfect their technique, to build their strength…years of practice and effort, not new shoes, make a better athlete.