Balance Update

2015-04-27

I added a couple of balancing habits to my day. When I put on my clothes in the morning, I try to do very carefully and smoothly. I try to make sure I am very balanced while doing it. Jumping around, or shifting my weight quickly is considered a failure, and I need to keep working on it. Also, I have been doing a similar routine when I put on my shoes. This is made more challenging by some of my shoes being road cycling shoes, which do not have much traction and have a lot of straps to stick down.

It has been a couple of weeks since I started focusing on this and trying to make it better. I am happy to report that I can already notice some improvements. Before, I would often need to grab something while putting on my cycling shoes, but now I am shifting my weight quickly only some of the time. At least once, I was able to do it very smoothly.

This is another achievement toward my goal of increasing my margin of error. I did not need to have smooth balance while putting on my shoes and clothes. I could have sat down in a chair to do it. In order to feel like I am living my life safely, I need to feel like I have the strength, flexibility, endurance, etc. above what I need on a normal day. If I do not set my bar higher than a normal day, my body is going to adapt to doing the minimum it can.

It is very empowering to think that a little focus for a few minutes a day can have an effect in only a couple weeks! Focusing on a few projects can lead to real gains in short time. This is true even when minimal time is invested. The opposite is also true though. If you do not keep challenging yourself, you will start to see real losses over a short time scale. It is your choice which direction you want to be heading. I do not care how fast or hard you are going but pick that you will head in the direction of greater strength, flexibility, endurance, and stamina. Choose to get better, a little at a time.