I took my first serious yoga classes the other day in Austin. It kicked my butt.
I’m not a yoga dude. I do mobility work – but yoga is a different animal.
I figured I’d have a lot of trouble getting into the “practice” and thought the woo-woo nature would make it too hard to focus on the athletic practice.
On top of that – half the people at the event (it seemed) were yoga pros. Meanwhile, I was basically struggling to touch my toes (see proof below).
As I was somewhere between having my hamstrings snap in half and falling on my face, I started getting frustrated and Baron said something very early on that changed my perspective.
Stop worrying about doing it right.
You’re not doing it right anyways.
That one phrase stuck with me.
It’s easy to want to be great at something when you first start. You don’t want to look stupid, get embarrassed or do it wrong.
But that’s how you learn, that’s how you grow, and that’s why the best learners aren’t afraid to look stupid.
Stop worrying about doing it right.
You’re not doing it right anyways.
When I heard it, something clicked and let me focus just on improving the move that I was doing. Not doing it perfect, but doing it better than before.
So, the next time you’re in a yoga class, sweating your face off and hoping your hamstrings don’t snap in half…
Stop worrying about doing it right.
You’re not doing it right anyways.
So start doing. Start working. And figure it out as you go along.
Don’t worry about being perfect. You’re not perfect anyways.
Of course, this applies to non-yoga challenges as well as any other impossible challenges you undertake.
P.S. If you have a chance to take a class by Baron Baptiste, he’s a bad ass. Do it.
Great advice Joel! Just do and be proud of the way you do at that moment. 😉
Thanks!
Great little article Joel. I can really relate. I skydive semi-professionally and am constantly beating myself up about the technique and being perfect! And it’s soooooo hard! I will remember this in a weeks time at my next training camp!
Ha – well skydiving does have a slightly bigger downside than being bad at yoga :). Keep it up.
I love that short article. It’s to the point.
Great message. ‘Stop worrying about doing it right.’ Must be a badass instructor 🙂
This is kind of unrelated, but I think if you do a “777 Project” 2.0 you should do it where other people can join you in running the races. I know you probably want to “do it yourself” and say you built 7 schools all by yourself but does it really matter as long as the schools are built and you ran the races yourself? It seems like it would be easier to raise the money if other people could join you and thus get people they know to donate for them rather than them going “Hey a guy I know only on the internet is running seven races to build schools want to donate?”
I also think it would make it more appealing for people to donate, because as its just you running the races it seems less about building the schools and community participation than you accomplishing something for your ego’s sake (not saying that’s how it is just how it could appear).