Things Only People Who Brush Their Teeth Understand

Hey Everyone!

I made the most of my unintended one day hiatus, but I'm back at it again. 

So an idea that's been bouncing around my head for a while now is how little credit the survival mentality is given. Everyone wants to be excellent, but no-one wants to train unless they're in the right state of mind, or run unless they have the perfect workout; they don't want to take a class or try an activity or make a commitment until they're sure they can handle it. "They" includes me. 

But no-one starts out being good at an activity. They might have some talent, but that doesn't make anyone great at anything. This semester, for example, I haven't had any English classes or any courses at all that make me write regularly. I put this page together to force myself to keep writing every day, and every day I pick the best thing I can think to write about and run with it. 

We all want to produce great work every time we try something, but we can't be great at something without doing it day in and day out. Everyone has uninspired days where they don't have the energy to apply themselves to a task. 

In the end, being passionate about something is not a surefire way to become great. As soon as the excited state and eagerness goes, its easy to forget why you cared in the first place. 

I've heard a great analogy for maintaining a skill set: it's like brushing your teeth. You don't base your decision to brush your teeth on how you feel about brushing your teeth. You do it with a survival mentality, keeping the long term in mind; you are going to make it through the day with healthy teeth and make it through the year without a cavity. You don't even have short term goals; you just think about how little fun getting a tooth filled is and brush your teeth more carefully. 

The same thing goes for running or lifting or reading or whatever. Throw the best you can come up with together and get after it. Most of the time hard work beats meticulous planning, and when you're exhausted and out of ideas instinct is much more useful than deep thought. 

Thanks for reading and as always please share this blog. The posts will keep on coming.