DELIBERATE PRACTICE
"It is only when you are alone that you can engage in something called Deliberate Practice, which has been identified as the key to exceptional achievement" by research psychologists. "When you practice deliberately," (meaning when you do the application opposed to speculating about the theories relating to it!), "you identify the tasks or knowledge that are just out of your reach, strive to upgrade your performance, monitor your progress, and revise accordingly."
Psychologists also note that "Deliberate Practice is best conducted alone for several reasons. It takes intense concentration, and other people can be distracting. It requires deep motivation, often self-generated. But most important, it involves working on a task that's most challenging to you personally. Only when you are alone, can you go directly to the part that is challenging you, If you want to improve what you are doing, you have to be the one that generates the move." Susan Cain, Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, Crown Publishers, New York, p. 81.
It has been determined that it takes approximately ten thousand hours of Deliberate Practice to gain true expertise - great skill or knowledge in a particular field - so it helps to start young! According to one psychologist,"who studied the lives of ninety-one exceptionally creative people in the arts, sciences, business and government, many of his subjects were on the social margins during adolescence, partly because "intense curiosity or focused interest seems odd to their peers." Quiet, p. 82. I spent many hours of my youth alone with nature, books and ideas. Thanks, mom, for the weekly trips to the library and the space to dream and breathe that are part of the solid foundation of farm life!
Thinking back over my 63 years I've been reflecting on how I spent my time. Some of the thousands of hours were whiled away doing what I call "puttering" which means doing lots of little things to make my physical environment more beautiful. But there are also thousands of hours where I made conscious, intentional, carefully considered decisions, too.
Follow my logic:
I have approximately 16 accountable hours every day and on my last birthday I was 63 years old so 63 years X 365 days = 22,999 days X 16 hours = 367,984 hours.
I have been married since I was 21 years old so 63-21 = 42 years X 365 days = 15,330 days X 16 hours = 245,280 hours.
I have been a mother since I was 24 years old so 63-24 = 39 years X 365 days = 14,235 days X16 hours = 227,760 hours.
I have been actively mentoring since I was 43 years old so 63-43 = 20 years X 365 days = 7,300 days X 16 hours = 116,800 hours.
I know, I know, I know... there are many other things to factor in to these numbers but you get my drift. The essence is that the volume still indicates an immense amount of hours that were available to me. The volume also indicates that I have easily put in over 10,000 hours in each of these areas, most likely several times over, and I do believe I did so while applying Deliberate Practice - deliberately - during many, many, many of those hours - because that is just the way I do things! So now I am wondering - when is someone like me actually pronounced PROFICIENT (competent, skilled) at something?
This is one of those times that I am the only one who can determine proficiency for myself. And, I don't mind if I do take a few moments to pat myself on the back. And, while I am at it, let me do that for you as well. Take a few moments to reflect on when and how you have practiced Deliberate Practice. Aging does have some significant benefits, after all!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
I've been thinking about vision...
GREAT AMBITIONS!
While editing a brochure recently for a new program coming under the Center for Women with Vision, I needed to focus on language to communicate our visionary philosophy. After all, we are called the Center for Women with VISION and, therefore, it is extremely relevant and appropriate for us to figure out what we mean by using the word "vision" in our name.
What kind of vision are we talking about? The verbiage I edited fits our culture at the CWV especially well but the credit for it actually goes to Phoenix Seminary where it is drawn from their values material. Why recreate the wheel when something is said so well that it cannot be improved upon?
Anyway, our version - based on their version - goes like this:
We believe God is honored when we challenge one another to abandon small ambitions and attempt things which are great in our Lord's eyes, exceeding human capabilities for His own sovereign purposes and glory!
Yikes! I am in love with language about abandoning small ambitions! When a simple phrase lifts me to a new place in my thinking, I am extremely grateful. I want to do life better and that means thinking about something higher and greater than my own human nature can comprehend.
When possibilities begin percolating new energy flows, but in the frothy ferment, how can I be sure what is really God's vision? To help us out, His vision is accompanied by a wonderful thing - confirmation!
Although this "thing" may not be present in my life right now, I can test it and reconfirm it day by day before Him. Even acknowledging I am waiting on God for His vision to become a reality is very different from my non-believing friends. In my waiting I am demonstrating respect for the limitless creativity and sovereign timeline of my Heavenly Father!
Doubles yikes! I also swing into wide-eyed alarm about where an adventure with God and His BIG
ambitions might ultimately take me! Great ambitions - even with the proper motivation - keep me hanging emotionally over a chasm of great risk. What if I look like a fool for believing and following a vision He has planted in my heart? What if He drop kicks me into the chasm itself - never to be heard from again?
This is why vision is a difficult word to embrace. Some even believe, and I tend to agree, that the word has been stolen from us by our culture. You - the person reading this blog - may feel that Christians have surrendered it to the nut jobs of the world. How sad if this becomes our excuse for not abandoning our small ambitions! The Bible records many examples of God giving great discernment and foresight to human beings through their senses - often through dreams as the medium. What is clear is that He desires to make human beings carriers of what is currently immaterial but very real, nonetheless, in His economy.
My own heart is capable of vain wild imaginings - thoughts flying untethered in the wind. However, when
God - the Master Planner - downloads His vision into my heart - He ties it to the tail of a high-flying kite! When His "vision kite" bounces to earth, by golly, what He has planned - will be! When it is my vision kite - He has allowed me to do something great in His eyes! Oooooohhhhh! I am so all over that!
Be Thou My Vision
Ancient Irish Poem - 8th Century
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art.
thou my best thought by day or by night;
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
may I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
While editing a brochure recently for a new program coming under the Center for Women with Vision, I needed to focus on language to communicate our visionary philosophy. After all, we are called the Center for Women with VISION and, therefore, it is extremely relevant and appropriate for us to figure out what we mean by using the word "vision" in our name.
What kind of vision are we talking about? The verbiage I edited fits our culture at the CWV especially well but the credit for it actually goes to Phoenix Seminary where it is drawn from their values material. Why recreate the wheel when something is said so well that it cannot be improved upon?
Anyway, our version - based on their version - goes like this:
We believe God is honored when we challenge one another to abandon small ambitions and attempt things which are great in our Lord's eyes, exceeding human capabilities for His own sovereign purposes and glory!
Yikes! I am in love with language about abandoning small ambitions! When a simple phrase lifts me to a new place in my thinking, I am extremely grateful. I want to do life better and that means thinking about something higher and greater than my own human nature can comprehend.
When possibilities begin percolating new energy flows, but in the frothy ferment, how can I be sure what is really God's vision? To help us out, His vision is accompanied by a wonderful thing - confirmation!
Although this "thing" may not be present in my life right now, I can test it and reconfirm it day by day before Him. Even acknowledging I am waiting on God for His vision to become a reality is very different from my non-believing friends. In my waiting I am demonstrating respect for the limitless creativity and sovereign timeline of my Heavenly Father!
Doubles yikes! I also swing into wide-eyed alarm about where an adventure with God and His BIG
ambitions might ultimately take me! Great ambitions - even with the proper motivation - keep me hanging emotionally over a chasm of great risk. What if I look like a fool for believing and following a vision He has planted in my heart? What if He drop kicks me into the chasm itself - never to be heard from again?
This is why vision is a difficult word to embrace. Some even believe, and I tend to agree, that the word has been stolen from us by our culture. You - the person reading this blog - may feel that Christians have surrendered it to the nut jobs of the world. How sad if this becomes our excuse for not abandoning our small ambitions! The Bible records many examples of God giving great discernment and foresight to human beings through their senses - often through dreams as the medium. What is clear is that He desires to make human beings carriers of what is currently immaterial but very real, nonetheless, in His economy.
My own heart is capable of vain wild imaginings - thoughts flying untethered in the wind. However, when
God - the Master Planner - downloads His vision into my heart - He ties it to the tail of a high-flying kite! When His "vision kite" bounces to earth, by golly, what He has planned - will be! When it is my vision kite - He has allowed me to do something great in His eyes! Oooooohhhhh! I am so all over that!
Be Thou My Vision
Ancient Irish Poem - 8th Century
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art.
thou my best thought by day or by night;
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
may I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
I've been thinking about wit...
GLORIOUS REPARTEE!
Repartee is the very soul of conversation, so it is the greatest grace of comedy. - John Dryden
In the book, Amazing Grace - William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, by Eric Metaxas, I stumbled across a concept defining a behavior in my husband, Darryl, that I have struggled to explain many times during our 42 years of marriage. This behavior is unalterably stamped into his French DNA, an important fact that further corroborates my new understanding. Let me explain.
The book notes that William Wilberforce and his Goostree Gang were well-known for their repartee - the art of responding quickly, smoothly and pointedly in their interchanges. In fact, one of their favorite pastimes was trading quips - what they called "foyning," or "foining."
The term "to foin" - originally French - means to thrust, as with a rapier sword. "Foining" swordplay with lighter swords and rapiers had replaced the earlier kind of swordplay with broadswords, which involved cutting and slashing. So "to foin" meant to parry deftly and thrust with one's wits; the term "rapier wit" is a cousin of "foining." It was an era in which wit was greatly valued, and Wilberforce and his friends, all inveterate wits, were dubbed by Edward Eliot "the Foinsters." p. 28
A rapier is a straight two-edged sword with a narrow pointed blade used for thrusting - in contrast to the broadsword - a sword with a long blade used for cutting. So, to parry with the rapier sword in the context of foining - is to lunge at others with a kind of teasing wit which is imaginatively perceptive and articulate. The banter that follows this lunge evokes laughter - even the sidesplitting, rollicking kind - in appreciation of the verbal ingenuity it requires.
The sharper the rapier wit - the more ability there is to relate what appears to be seemingly disparate things. Rapier wit is a kind of genius with a special proclivity for the incongruous - combining two things which are not normally meant to be compatible with each other! This type of wit automatically captures attention, arouses interest, and amuses.
On the upside, when wit becomes a firmly entrenched habit in an individual like Darryl, who is naturally good at it and continues to sharpen it, this gift thrusts him into the realm of effective speaking and teaching. God has blessed Darryl over and over through the years - using wit to break down resistance, woo and illuminate - individuals as well as whole congregations. As I have looked on, I am certain it is prized today just as much as it was in Wilberforce's day. We love it, we are drawn to it, we want to be where it is happening! It is some of the best of what life has to offer!
On the downside, however, there is danger! When someone employs great wit and places strain on incongruity, the result can be unpredictable and may sometimes even lack propriety. People have often said to me, "I can't believe Darryl gets away with what he gets away with...!!!!" At those times, he is skating very near the edge of disaster but somehow manages to stay in good graces with people. I think it is because more times than not, he carries hearty fun and entertainment with him into social situations and the comedy he brings is not something any of us want to give up.
In my ongoing research on the subject of wit, I also found a term to describe a slightly irritating but nevertheless still affectionately endearing nuance of foining. It is a behavior in Darryl called persiflage - which means frivolous (lacking in seriousness - and may I add - often at the wrong times) bantering talk. Now, I just shake my head and smile benignly. My little Foinster!
Repartee is the very soul of conversation, so it is the greatest grace of comedy. - John Dryden
In the book, Amazing Grace - William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, by Eric Metaxas, I stumbled across a concept defining a behavior in my husband, Darryl, that I have struggled to explain many times during our 42 years of marriage. This behavior is unalterably stamped into his French DNA, an important fact that further corroborates my new understanding. Let me explain.
The book notes that William Wilberforce and his Goostree Gang were well-known for their repartee - the art of responding quickly, smoothly and pointedly in their interchanges. In fact, one of their favorite pastimes was trading quips - what they called "foyning," or "foining."
The term "to foin" - originally French - means to thrust, as with a rapier sword. "Foining" swordplay with lighter swords and rapiers had replaced the earlier kind of swordplay with broadswords, which involved cutting and slashing. So "to foin" meant to parry deftly and thrust with one's wits; the term "rapier wit" is a cousin of "foining." It was an era in which wit was greatly valued, and Wilberforce and his friends, all inveterate wits, were dubbed by Edward Eliot "the Foinsters." p. 28
A rapier is a straight two-edged sword with a narrow pointed blade used for thrusting - in contrast to the broadsword - a sword with a long blade used for cutting. So, to parry with the rapier sword in the context of foining - is to lunge at others with a kind of teasing wit which is imaginatively perceptive and articulate. The banter that follows this lunge evokes laughter - even the sidesplitting, rollicking kind - in appreciation of the verbal ingenuity it requires.
The sharper the rapier wit - the more ability there is to relate what appears to be seemingly disparate things. Rapier wit is a kind of genius with a special proclivity for the incongruous - combining two things which are not normally meant to be compatible with each other! This type of wit automatically captures attention, arouses interest, and amuses.
On the upside, when wit becomes a firmly entrenched habit in an individual like Darryl, who is naturally good at it and continues to sharpen it, this gift thrusts him into the realm of effective speaking and teaching. God has blessed Darryl over and over through the years - using wit to break down resistance, woo and illuminate - individuals as well as whole congregations. As I have looked on, I am certain it is prized today just as much as it was in Wilberforce's day. We love it, we are drawn to it, we want to be where it is happening! It is some of the best of what life has to offer!
On the downside, however, there is danger! When someone employs great wit and places strain on incongruity, the result can be unpredictable and may sometimes even lack propriety. People have often said to me, "I can't believe Darryl gets away with what he gets away with...!!!!" At those times, he is skating very near the edge of disaster but somehow manages to stay in good graces with people. I think it is because more times than not, he carries hearty fun and entertainment with him into social situations and the comedy he brings is not something any of us want to give up.
In my ongoing research on the subject of wit, I also found a term to describe a slightly irritating but nevertheless still affectionately endearing nuance of foining. It is a behavior in Darryl called persiflage - which means frivolous (lacking in seriousness - and may I add - often at the wrong times) bantering talk. Now, I just shake my head and smile benignly. My little Foinster!
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