Knowing how the mind tries to works against you and how to counter it are crucial if you want to build a sustainable daily practice.
The Secret to My Streaks
Adventures on the Trampoline: Front Tucks
In my weekly trampoline practice, my focus over the past several weeks has been progressing in doing my front tucks “out-of-lines” — i.e., without the safety harness and spotting lines that we use while learning certain skills.
This has been scary and empowering. The two usually go hand-in-hand.
Each week, I still practice a few in the safety lines before I take the belt off. But just because the belt comes off doesn’t mean that I land each trick on my feet.
The Path of Progress
Progress doesn’t mean you don’t fall, it means you keep getting back up.
I’ve stuck the landing on my feet more often over the past few weeks, but I have yet to land more than two consecutive front tucks on my feet.
Last week, we moved back to Trapeze School New York’s tent in Williamsburg, Brooklyn after the summer on Pier 40. The trampoline is different. The environment is different. I had to adapt and adjust. After landing the first two on my feet, I couldn’t stick the landing on the next five. I got a little bit of a beatdown from the trampoline. All safe landings, but frustrating.
Today, I landed 5 consecutive front tucks on my feet. My adrenaline was still flowing an hour after practice.
Regaining Momentum
After last week’s beat-down by the trampoline, I was looking for some redemption. I stuck the landing on the first one, which was huge. The huge adrenaline rush that I had felt when I first took them out of lines had subsided in recent weeks, but today it was back in force.
My second attempt started with a wonky bounce, and I almost stopped to reset, but I stuck with it and stuck the landing.
Then I started to feel the pressure. I have been really wanting to string together three consecutive landing on my feet. So far, it’s eluded me. Before my next attempt, I paused. I breathed into my body. I centered myself and focused. I nailed it. Victory. I reached my three.
Now the adrenaline was surging. I paused again to breathe and reset. I steeled my gaze and rooted into my resolve to commit fully. I stuck the landing.
Now the adrenaline was really pumping. Again, I closed my eyes and focused on my breath. I grounded in to my resolve to commit fully. I opened my eyes, narrowed my focus and took of. I bounced, I tucked, I rotated, and I opened. I landed on my feet, with a little hop back. It took me a moment to realize what I had just done, and then I let out the shriek of joy.
Five in a row, sticking the landing.
My friend Derek, who filmed the videos, commented that it was really amazing. And I can’t disagree with him.
Noticing the Patterns
Of course, I’m no stranger to streaks. I noticed that today’s run raised a pattern that arises in so many of my streaks. Funny how that works, right? The more you notice patterns, the more you see all the places where they show up.
How the Mind Tries to Sabotage Us
The pattern that showed up was a pattern of the mind. This is how it tries to get in the way.
After I stuck the landing for three in a row, I heard a voice in my head ask: “can I stick 5 in a row”?
Wait. Hold up. Aren’t we skipping something?
Basic counting: 3, 4, 5.
I reminded myself to stay in the moment. Focus on this one right here. Don’t get too far ahead. Just the next one.
I focused on four. Then, after four, I thought about five.
A Fundamental Principle of Building Streaks
In the early days of my fitness first streak, friends would ask me daily: what’s your goal? They wondered if I was going for a 6-month or 1-year streak. My standard response was that my goal was to “do it again tomorrow.” That remains my goal today, even after over four years.
This is the mindset and the strategy that has helped me build my streaks. Fitness. Meditation. Journaling. 10,000 steps a day. Writing.
One of the fundamentals that I teach in The Ritual Revolution is that all sustainable practices are built on this foundation of staying in the moment.
One day at a time. One step at a time. One word at a time.
It applies equally to fitness as it does to business. Whether you’re making sales calls or managing a big project, you complete the task one step at a time.
This is not easy. So often, our minds want to race ahead of us. (At least mine does.) We look so far down the road that we lose sight of where we are now. We get to number 3, and our minds are on number 5 before we’ve completed number 4.
How To Build Sustainably
Whether you’re trying to land front tucks, build a sustainable daily practice (in any thing), or just stay out of overwhelm when you’ve got a mountain of work and clients needing you in every direction, this is the practice.
Stay in the moment. Take things one at a time. Don’t get too far ahead. Pace and lead.
This moment. This breath. This thing right here.
If you want to build something that will last, this is how you do it: one at a time.
Each week after trampoline practice, I do a live broadcast of My Circus Life on Periscope, a short show where I share a lesson I learned in practice and how it applies to life and business. You can watch all episodes on my Periscope channel (@reneefishman). Today’s episode is linked here:
Episode 59: The Importance of Staying in the Moment
If you want to learn more about how to create sustainable daily practices, I invite you to register at The Ritual Revolution. I will sending details soon about the next opening for enrollment in this program.