Master The Art Of Drawing The Bow

We live in a world dominated by social media that focuses on results and especially on big success, but it overlooks the process.

We live in a world that glorifies the results and not the process.

We see the knockout punch, we hear the hit song, we enjoy the dramatic performance but not the years of effort that went into perfecting it.

We see results but not the hard work.

The only way you can be far above average is to find a way to do the same thing over and over again.

As Bruce Lee allegedly said: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

For you to become really good at something, to acquire mastery, requires practice and endless attention to detail  -  and this involves repetition and that eventually can become boring. 

In archery, if you put intensity, focus and sincerity into the process—where you place our feet, how you hold the bow, how you breathe during the release of the arrow - then hitting the bullseye is simply a side effect.

As James Clear puts it:

"The point is not to worry about hitting the target.

The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with the boredom of doing the work and embrace each piece of the process.

The point is to take that moment of complete awareness and focus, and carry it with you everywhere in life."

Endless repetition of routine tasks and obsession over the details is extremely important, but to improve and develop your skills you need to engage in deliberate practice.

Deliberate Practice is a structured approach to skill development that focuses on improving performance through focused, systematic, and purposeful effort.

Unlike general practice, which may involve repeating a task with little thought, deliberate practice involves targeted activities designed to stretch current abilities.

Deliberate practice is a method for improving your performance at anything, based on constant feedback and working at the edge of your abilities. Elite people in every field use it to build up their expertise.

Here's a summary of its key elements:

1. Specific Goals: Each session is designed to achieve a specific outcome, addressing particular weaknesses or skill gaps.
2. Focus and Concentration: It requires full mental engagement, avoiding distractions to maximize learning and improvement.
3. Immediate Feedback: Practitioners seek timely feedback to understand mistakes and adjust their approach.
4. Challenge Beyond Comfort Zone: Tasks are intentionally set to be slightly beyond the practitioner's current skill level to promote growth.
5. Repetition and Refinement: Skills are refined through repeated, purposeful attempts, emphasizing quality over mere quantity.
6. Expert Guidance: Often involves mentorship or coaching to guide efforts and ensure practices align with effective methods.

This method, popularized by researchers like Anders Ericsson, is especially effective for mastering complex skills in areas like music, sports, or professional work. It emphasizes intentionality and structured improvement over time.

Recommended Resource:

The Ultimate Deliberate Practice Guide: How to Be the Best

The foundation to this is a measure of control over your mind. To perform at a high level, you must diligently and consistently, focus on being present.

This is not a state you can just “turn on,” if you aren’t practicing it.

Your everyday life must reinforce how you hope to perform at the highest level.

“The secret is that everything is always on the line. The more present we are at practice, the more present we will be in competition, in the boardroom, at the exam, the operating table, the big stage.

If we have any hope of attaining excellence, let alone of showing what we’ve got under pressure, we have to be prepared by a lifestyle of reinforcement. Presence must be like breathing.” [Josh Waitzkin]

Recommended Resource:

Freeing Yourself From Your Mind - 6 Key Practices From Eckhart Tolle

[2] Non Attached Mind

We have an inbuilt, hardwired tendency to automatically attach to our desired outcome which adds heavily to the weight of expectation.

We need to learn how to practice non-attachment by consciously setting aside our preferred outcome or goal - or indeed any outcome or goal - and just focusing on the processes involved in the task in hand.

A focus on process, rather than outcome, leads to better performance.

Learn how to practice non-attached mind

Non-Attached Mind - does not seek to gain anything

[3] A Focused Mind Of Relaxed Alertness

The focused mindset is unstressed yet constantly aware of your body, mind, and surroundings.

The focused mindset is about choosing to act intentionally and with purpose.

It is not the target that matters. It is not the finish line that matters.

How you approach your goal is what determines the outcome. Aiming is everything. 

It is irrelevant if you are winning or if you are losing. It is irrelevant if you are starting or near the end.

Stay focused regardless of what has happened so far.

Practice focused mindset

Focused Mind -  focused on action with an effortless vigilance

[4] Going With The Flow By Doing Without Doing

The Taoist practise of Wu Wei is about "doing without doing" or living your life in alignment with the flow of life - quite literally going with the flow.

This becomes possible when we accept that:

Everything in life has its own flow, its own pace and speed. If we can tune into and align ourselves with it, we can achieve without undue exertion and enjoy effortless ease in all that we do. We find that we instinctively know what to do and when to do it.

What Wu Wei means in practice

Doing without doing:

• Does not mean not taking action.
• Is about how you take action.
• Means being at peace whilst taking action - so you can perform with maximum skill and efficiency.
• Describes a state of total immersion and profound concentration on what you are doing - being "in the zone".
• Requires you to have achieved conscious competence in exercising the necessary skills to unconsciously undertake the required tasks and activities. i.e. to "work on auto-pilot".