Formless Performance

Check out this exchange between a reporter and AFL superstar Eddie Betts after he kicked an impossible goal that saw even his opponent give him a high 5.

Reporter "Tell us what you were thinking when that one went through"

Eddie Betts "To be honest I don't really think... in those moments... you just don't think"

It's in the space between our thinking that high level performance lies.

Watch the clip from 23 seconds.

https://youtu.be/u7QkLHkWoFo

Eddie Betts post-game interview | AFL Round 13 Eddie Betts chats with James Brayshaw and Jimmy Bartel following the Adelaide Crows win over Richmond.

Fear, procrastination, overwhelm.... it's all just misguided thinking. All you need to do is take the next step.

Do you understand the principles that create your experience of life? The good stuff, the bad stuff, its all created the same and understanding the how can make all the difference.

Have you ever loved a song but not known the words? Its because the feeling is what's important.

How do you a climb a wall? You just start.

Check out my new blog on what not to do if you want resilience and wellbeing.

https://www.formless.com.au/single-post/2019/04/30/How-do-you-climb-a-wall

A few months ago I started using a new computer program that relied on me using coding. It was very specific, typing : instead of ; could really wreck your day. There was lots of technical jargon in the manual and I really struggled. It felt clunky, like their was no rationale or logic to it and things that should have been simple took me hours.

I didn't understand the program and thus it was a grind.

But as the months went on I started to see there was a logic and a system to it and it got easier, the clunkyness went away and while I certainly can't call myself a computer programmer I can now navigate the system with an ease I once thought impossible.

You're innate health is there to guide you to success and a high quality of life. But if you never knew it existed or don't understand how it works life will feel clunky and without purpose.

Two things I hear in this quote.
1. If you love what you're doing persistence won't be something you have to "do".
2. There is always, always, always another level to get to (even at 90 years of age).

Dont Chase Butterflies!

When we slow down life reveals itself, shows us an opportunity that is now and only available now, and if we miss it we dont know when it will be back.

You cant force a good feeling, a beautiful sunrise, a job promotion or a butterfly to sit on your arm, but you can be in the moment, fully aware and ready to take the gifts both small and large that the world is trying to deliver you in each and every moment.

"....thoughts arise like butterflies, he don't know so he chases them away..." - Eddie Vedder

Do we really live everyday or do we think about living?

Thinking about whats for tea, thinking about that problem at work, thinking about that bad stuff that happened, thinking about the bad stuff that might happen, thinking about a new car I can't afford yet.......

Meanwhile the world is unfolding right before you, offering an opportunity right there and then to "live".

Thought is a good thing and a powerful gift we can use to enrich our lives but there is a lot of junk mixed in that throws us off track.

This is why understanding the nature of thought is key to enhancing your experience of life and living every day you take a breath in this beautiful world.

One of the greatest intellects in history valued the space between his thoughts.

Do you use this space? Do you pause to swim in the silence?

Theres more than truth waiting for you there.

The divine, happiness, wellbeing, connection, peace of mind, passion, results it all comes from the same place.

There's a lot to enjoy about Christmas especially the things that just aren't quite right.

www.formless.com.au/single-post/2017/12/23/The-Perfectly-Imperfect-Christmas-Tree

The Perfectly Imperfect Christmas Tree | Formless Performance - revolutionising me At first glance one could easily have a gentle laugh to themselves at the tinsel heavy and far from balanced decorations.  One could also think it looks a littl...

There are some truths about wellbeing and high performance that are still being ridiculed and aggressively opposed. Little by little people are waking up to them and experiencing how simple it is feel good and achieve.

Three keys to feeling good and performing at your best no matter what you do.

Where are you coming from?

A low quality of mind where you believe your circumstances determine how you feel and lead?

Or a high quality of mind where you lead from clarity, and truth regardless of what's happening around you?

A head full of thought only gets lighter by thinking less. It's simple but we miss the simplicity every time we look outside for an answer.

https://youtu.be/0467yPRpbBw

Three Principles by Sydney Banks - Animated by CoachCafe.no https://youtu.be/0467yPRpbBw

So busy.... but why?

Are you looking for the finish line but not enjoying the race?

Did you forget to dance while the song was playing?

Did you even know it was a song?

https://vimeo.com/176370337?outro=1

Alan Watts - Why Your Life Is Not A Journey A film I made last night based on my favourite quotes from Alan Watts about how the way of looking at your life as a journey can be the most destructive way. Please…

If its not about stuff what's it about?

It's this simple

"You don’t have to suffer to be successful”

What if I get there and still feel the same? Would it be worth it?

Hard work and toil are accepted as necessary aspects of achievement but when it comes to achieving they are no more necessary than turning your sprinklers on when it’s raining.

At our most fundamental level we are chasing a better feeling. When we accept the idea of hard work and toiling towards an outcome we numb ourselves to the feelings that drive our innate capacity and lead us towards our passion, our purpose and ultimately our success in life.

It’s by connecting to this passion and purpose that we truly feel good, and feeling good in the moment (every moment) will lead you towards a type of success you wouldn’t have previously been able to comprehend let alone plan for. Suffering now is not only unnecessary but counter intuitive to success.

Success is not some location far off in the distance, success is a quality of life and personal performance available to you in each and every moment you live.

So if it lay within our own mind waiting to emerge what's stopping it?

Nick Kyrgios is not soft!

If I could choose just one athlete on earth to work with it would be this guy.

Raw talent, technical skills, and all the physical attributes you could want, he's got it. While he raises some questions about work ethic in his comments I think it safe to say that he puts in the work because you don't get to the quarter finals of Wimbledon without it.

So what's missing?

Well if you consider the above the answer would seem pretty obvious. But while the path to Mr Kyrgios' break through tournament lay in something that is simple, the obvious answer is not the answer.

It's in his head!

Yes this is the obvious part of the dilemma, but the fact lost on most arm chair critics, sport psychologists and caring family members is which way the path out of this dilemma actually is.

The temptation and "obvious" path for this young sporting prodigy will be to go to work on the content of his thinking. To set up a regime to counter the bad or negative stuff that flies through his head and holds him back. But this is a path that is destine to fail as he takes on an endless supply of thinking that is far more formidable than Andy Murray turning it up in a game of tennis.

But there's another way, a far simpler way that focuses on understanding what thought is and why and when he can trust it, and it's a way that will point him back to what got him there in the first place. And it's this path that will see him becoming one of the most successful tennis players to come out of Australia in recent times.

Nick describes himself as soft but we know he is far from soft. He wasn't soft when he beat former world number one Raphael Nadal and there's no doubt about his assertiveness skills when it comes to tennis officials.

Nick has all that he needs to get his head straight and once again engage with the qualities that have seen him get to where he is - poise, focus, resilience, creativity, it's all there laying just beneath the surface underneath his rampant negative and completely unnecessary thinking.

Nick has everything he needs to complete this puzzle and confirm his place along side (and maybe ahead) of the best players in the world.

At this point there are two paths in the road for Nick Kyrgios one that leads to more thinking and away from everything that he already has and is capable of, and another towards a place free of unnecessary thinking and back to what he is.

Nick isn't soft, he's just on the wrong path.

https://tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/the-project/top-stories-july-2016/kyrgios-afraid-he-s-too-soft

Kyrgios afraid he’s too soft Murray suggests he may need psychological help

Happy to say I just passed on our donation to the Albury Repair Cafe. The last event we ran was a public event that raised some $$ and the attendees picked this local volunteer org to receive the donation.

It's a great little setup, if you haven't checked it out yet you should.

This is what Formless Performance is all about. We don't fill your head and life up with unnecessary thinking, actions and techniques, we help your "Mind" to stretch, that is we help you to get more from what you already have.

I often have conversations with people that are struggling to reach some kind of a goal they (or god forbid someone else) has set for themselves.

If you know me you know I don't like goals so much. I've always found the structure and rigidity that comes with them clunky and un-necessary.

This article by legendary journalist Hunter S Thompson is a much clearer and concise version of what I try to point people to whenever goals and purpose comes up.

Read this. It's one of the best things I've ever read on the subject.

http://www.theearthtribe.com/2016/06/15/hunter-s-thompsons-extraordinary-letter-on-finding-your-purpose/

Hunter S. Thompson’s Extraordinary Letter on Finding Your Purpose Hunter S. Thompson’s Extraordinary Letter on Finding Your Purpose Posted on 15th June 2016 by Admin At the age of 22, April of 1958, Hunter S. Thompson wrote to a friend when he was asked for his advice on life and it’s meaning and finding purpose. Thompson was no saint, known as a crazy drug loving...

So how do you break a world record accidentally?

Just get a little passion behind something you love doing.

And of course make sure the cameras are rolling.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3646764/Fitness-freak-Crossfit-instructor-ACCIDENTALLY-breaks-world-record-pull-ups-minute.html

Fitness instructor accidentally sets world record for most pull-ups Victor Makurov, who works at a fitness centre in Perm, central Russia, did 67 reps in one minute, accidentally beat the current Guinness world record holder by a whopping 17 in the process.

And also don't use masses of empirical research, data, models, and theories to try and explain something that is at its heart both simple and perfect.

You are hard wired to thrive and achieve and the only thing getting in your way is a lack of understanding how it works.