The Distractible Rabbit and the Unswerving Tortoise
May 8, 2021
You know, I’m probably more of a rabbit than a turtle, but I think both are worth learning from. All animals are different. All people are different.
Who are you? The tortoise or the hare?
🐢 💨
🐇 💨
It’s a crisp, clean, light and refreshing morning here in south-central Florida. I just got back from a long walk timed right with the rising sun. I’ve followed this pattern nearly every day I’ve been here, because well - I like morning walks, and my mom’s pup, Bella, does as well.
I’m working remote for a couple weeks, spending some time in Florida with my mom to help her enjoy her work vacation and Mother’s Day as well as the calendar reminds me. Every week should host a day to remind us to care for our mothers, to acknowledge them and show them appreciation if you ask me. 💯
Mothers and Fathers, caretakers and guardians of all rights and kinship. Family is a crucial piece of the puzzle connected to our health. Without a sense of family, or community of mutual trust, love, and understanding, it is very difficult for the human spirit to thrive with delight and enjoyment.
We all need somebody. We all need some bodies. 🤝
Here’s your reminder to celebrate the moms in your life this weekend - and every weekend. ☀️ 👏
Now, with all that being said, you’re probably thinking… “So, what’s up with the turtle and rabbit question mentioned above?” Good! Let’s chat about that now!
[the inspiration for today’s post comes from my thoughts as I walk, run, jog and hobble along with a highly interested pup on my morning walks as we see turtles, rabbits, squirrels, and even turkeys around this strangely immersive wilderness suburb.
Mind
This last week I was reading a blog blub of a post that told me I was bored, but that humans don’t like boredom. The author suggested that we humans like novelty, we are attracted to some big audacious, momentous shift in our lives to solve all of our problems and not the day-to-day subtle adjustments that we make along the way.
This became personally relevant for me to think about further because my whole personal consulting business is focused around those day-to-day adjustments being the EXACT transformative process we need over the long-term, rather than the “big audacious, momentous shift” that most of us are attracted to more.
“Buy this product and shed that extra 10 pounds belly fat!”
“Take this medication and your acne will magically go away!”
“Regrow hair and look 20 years younger!”
All of these superfluous comments we’ve seen and heard and take as commonplace, though when we really analyze these statements we can so easily see just how “audacious and momentous” they are pronounced to be.
But the question remains, what are the honest and realistic expectations we can place on ourselves – while promoting, enticing, motivating as much as we can – without lying to ourselves about the potential true results we could achieve?
Body
I follow this guy named James Altucher, a podcaster, author, prolific writer, entrepreneur and chess master. He’s a fascinating character with some pretty keen gifts for noticing opportunities and loves to share them with others.
One mental shift he uses to focus on long-term achievements is by speaking about how we often can overestimate what we get done in a day but under estimate what we can get done in a year or even two.
Planning goals much further out and making incremental baby steps to get there is actually a very tried and true process to those much larger, possibly even more important, bucket-list goals we hope and strive to accomplish.
Lose 10 pounds in a week? Ehh, that’s not necessarily a healthy timeline for weight loss. The body is insanely robust and likes to adapt to its changing environment. It’s likely that those pounds will go right back where they were when life settles down or you stop that crazy cranberry cleanse you saw on tv.
Instead, James Altucher likes to point out how much even just “10% improvement each day compounds overtime.” In other words, if you try to improve just 10% each day, you’ll expedite your growth, and the actual trajectory of that growth will be exponentially greater than if you simply made one-and-done transformative changes.
Overtime, you will retain much more information, intentionally design subtle micro-moments of your day to set you up for success. Rather than throwing you into a frozen tundra cold pool, naked and afraid, sometimes taking baby steps tiptoeing into the water is just as worth it.
Don’t forget, you are the best director of your own health and your own life.
And it’s not to say that a polar plunge isn’t a truly awesome opportunity for people to massively alter the trajectory of their lives, because it can be quite an awakening, it’s just more common that everyday improvements of 10% are likely to help you actually develop the strength and stability to hold those habits of change overtime.
I’m all for diving into to change, to excel growth and amazement, to shock and awe the body into some strange and spiritually transformative process. Just take an hour in a float tank that desensitizes your entire surroundings and forces you to sit with your thoughts without distraction. Take a cold shower for instance or just hop in your closest local fresh salt water source. At the end of the day, whether we tip-toe our way into the water or we dive head first, we all end up wet in the end.
When it comes to those giant goals and dreams we have in life, sometimes it takes a combination of incremental changes, 10% improvement each day (or even each week), along with a few leaps, hops, skips and dives from time to time. In fact, I think that route is actually the one most likely to lead to prolonged, internalized success and achievement.
Sometimes you have to say to yourself, “I’m doing this and I’m never looking back!”
Other times you need to check in with yourself and if you want to write that book you’ve always wanted to put out into the world, then maybe “500 words a day” is the best path forward for you. Slowly, overtime you’ll write that novel and before you know it all those words will add up and each time you finish a 500 word session, you’ll improve 10% better each time, honing your skills and experiences as a writer with each page you script together.
Improve 10% each day and you’ll likely be surprised on what you can achieve.
Spirit
Slow and steady wins the race suggests the story of the tortoise and the hare. While the rabbit might be one likely diagnosed with a hopping hyperactivity and be distracted by all the wonders of the forest, the tortoise on the other hand keeps his head down and stays focused on the long-term goal, no matter how long it takes or where the journey may take him.
Sometimes I feel like I’m probably more the rabbit than the turtle. I’m pretty diligent and determined with my goals and visions for my future, but I have my fair share of daily distractions and complicated conundrums when it comes to the path I take in this forest of life.
There are hundreds of thousands of colorful plants, animals, and creepy crawlers that roam the forest floor that could keep my attention for the rest of my life. With an awe-and-wonder fascination that only toddlers seem to shine from, I could endlessly adventure, discover, learn, and live life in a perpetual pursuit of exploration.
And guess what, there would be nothing wrong with that at all. It might sound immature or pulled from a dreamy novel like the alchemist or some Disney storybook, but living life in joy and wonder, adventure and fun, with a true sense of overcoming challenges and seeing new sights has always been part of the shared human experience.
Self Reflection
There’s nothing wrong with taking time off for self-care, settling down, or rustling your feathers and flying south for the winter. There’s nothing wrong with changing course, or course-correcting for example. How else will we ever grow to nurture our ever growing and changing needs if we don’t listen and learn and iterate along the route of adventure?
Most of the time, people are looked down upon for changing their mind. In present-day politics here in the duopoly of America for instance, if a political candidate is one of wavering opinion, who changes their mind from time to time or listens to changing data or information is likely to get straight kicked out of their party or ostracized and ridiculed for “riding the fence” in the middle rather than being a loyalist follower in the loneliest corners of the polarizing political divide.
Instead, what I would suggest to be real growth and learning is the routine learning, checking of oneself, bias training, building an ecosystem of balance within ideologies and a strong support system of 3-5 friends who can call you out for the path you decide to take and make sure it matches the life you want to live and the goals you want to get to.
If you’re a rabbit, you might need some reminders and incentives. If you’re a tortoise, you might need some guideposts or friendly check-ins with yourself to keep you from keeping your head down for too long. Remember, it’s okay to change direction, it’s okay to take your time. Commit to the journey and trust the process that will take you down the path of your dreams.
Let’s Get Real
And I’m not talking about Disneyland dreams here again, I’m talking about real-life tangible and tactical strategies for improvements, for life adventures and experiences you want to have in your life. Sometimes, all it takes is an envelope in the desk drawer or a big coin collecting jug in the corner to stash away loose cash and change for your emergency fund to be filled or your weekend fun time play money to take your kids to that park, zoo, theme park you’ve thought about for a while.
Maybe you just want to pay off your debt, maybe you just want to learn how to tie a tie or run 3 miles consistently. Day to day steps and strategies will help lead you to those accomplishments. There may not be a bright and shiny solution you can have shipped to your door in two-days or less.
It may not be pretty, it may actually be filled with blood, sweat, and tears. It might not be glamourous. It might not be a life-changing transformative enlightening you experience, but if you can stay steady, believe in yourself, trust the process and relax along the route without getting stressed out or overwhelmed or burned out, you’ll likely get there faster, better, stronger, and more empowered than you probably ever expected from the first step you took.
Continue onward, continue with your craft.
Enjoy the journey.
It’s your life for the making and your health for the taking.
This is your life, your time, your choosing.
Be a turtle, be a hare.
Take a cold shower or jump in a cold pool.
We all have our own paths to take, so take yours with comfort, confidence, and delight.
Improve 10% each day and you’ll likely be surprised on what you can achieve.
Every new season brings new delight and new challenges. This is the ebb and flow of life and our values will continue to be our guiding compass leading our steps forward.
We Zig and We Zag, as we learn to adapt. Improving each day along the way. We know health is a journey, not a destination and it doesn’t have to be a stressful, chaotic race that rules our lives either. It CAN be peaceful, faithful, delightful, and calm.
Don’t forget, you are the best director of your own health and your own life.