Learnt

21/12/2021

Welcome to another episode of what I have learnt today this is episode no17. In today's episode, I want to talk about how being late can be dangerous.

On Mondays, I usually have a football training session and on this particular Monday, evening at about 5 pm I made sure I had saved 1 full hour dedicated to preparing to get to training on time because I was regularly late, I needed to be there by 6.30. I massaged, changed got my boots, did a few tasks here and there and before I knew it's 6:08 pm. Now I have To leave the house and be there in 22 minutes I'm not sure if I should take the bus, but If I take the bike (which will get me there in 16 minutes) I would be tired to train. The bus will take 8 minutes and a further 7-minute walk to the pitch. I decided to get the bus so I ran to the bus stop. When I got to the pedestrian stop, I clicked the pedestrian stop switch at the crossing multiple times. Then I saw the bus coming. And another one behind it. But there were so many cars I decided to wait and let them go. But then when I saw the third and last bus that goes to my stop I could not resist if I miss this one I am guaranteed to be late. I saw a gap between the cars and decided to cross even though the lights were still green, underestimating the speed of the cars. By the time I get to the middle lane, the cars suddenly got so close and the driver had no intention of slowing down that I rushed to get to the other side and almost got hit. After getting to the other side, I took a deep breath and thought about what am I doing- I'm trying to be on time because I'm late by putting my life at risk and at that moment I realised how unconscious I became of my surrounding, my emotions and my judgement. I was late to the training session anyways but I decided from then on that I don't ever want to be late again, in fact, I made sure I got to training an hour early, just to prove to myself that it's possible! This instance and other instances proved to be the consequences of being late.

Because of regularly lateness, not knowingly you are enforcing the same message and belief about yourself- not being reliable, unprepared and that can be aggravated by the poor performance in my case the training session. That can reduce your self-esteem and confidence- It can feel stressful, strain relations with other people because you're unreliable and it affects your performance- you are often not focused and become apologetic about things. The reason I want to perform my best in training Is that it reflects in the game, as a result, it helps- When you are good at something you enjoy it and constantly want to improve so this was helping me physiologically.

This happens because we cannot predict what happens before the meeting or session. You might do an urgent and immediate task here and there and find out later how time-consuming that action was. Or might underestimate how long a journey can take. So being early is part of preparation because then you are focused, you perform the task at hand better, less stressed, safer, confident and it will help you in the future when you need to be somewhere important.

And so that's it for this episode, You can follow me on Instagram at @whiltpod and also you can visit my blogs on Whilt.blog. Thank you for reading and see you on to the next one!

#podcast #learnt #WHILT #whatihavelearnttoday #spotify #applepodcast #googlepodcast

Starting Small to Achieve Big

When I started this podcast I set the goal of making at least 10 episodes before I see any of the stats- Initially, my goal was to get 10 listeners. Over time, not only did I achieve that but I got a better understanding of how to put together episodes, how to script, Edit and write blogs.

If you have a big goal like, starting a business in 2 months or get 10000 listeners on your podcast by episode 50, or to finish a project, job, task whatever it is, you should start small. Imagine that you need to boil or freeze the ocean how would you do it? The reason why you start small is that you will be able to complete the task, be consistent and make progress at it, and during the process, you will learn whatever your goal is how to do it better step by step. As an example, when I was trying to start a business that required a big initial investment- I had a mentor who saw that I was skipping some steps. He asked me what stage do you think you are on a scale of 1 to 10 in your business plan, I said 2, then he said to me now we are going to go to step 3, not step 4 or 6, step 3 and that step was to survey whether people needed the service. Once that is done then we go to step 4. This is a great way to explain that this journey is gradual, I'm going to learn stuff along that journey that can help me drift the plan in the right direction, this is the same with starting a podcast, a business, a project or even a self-development plan. 

A prime example and inspiration for me was Kobe Bryant, he talks about setting small goals in his game for example like focusing on his posture when guarding someone or shooting from a particular spot to be in the best form possible for the next game. This is to increase the chances of him winning that game by being prepared in the best possible way. And one thing he does that I have been using is his recovery method. Which he does after every game and that is to put ice on his knees, calves and shoulders so that he can recover a lot quicker before the next game. By doing this he is trying to improve by 1 per cent every day to help him perform in all types of conditions and at his peak. He does this after winning and losing.

Procrastination comes from Negative Emotions

The other thing I've learned is the reasons why we procrastinate, we procrastinate because of negative emotions and from those emerges more negative emotions, causing a spiral of negative emotions to the point where simple everyday tasks become difficult. By procrastinating, we tend to avoid those negative emotions because we think it makes us feel worse, so the brain distracts us from doing that task. Research done by Shira Pollack and Herres demonstrates that negative emotions motivate procrastination behaviour. 

"The current findings suggest a need for interventions that focus on emotion regulation strategies that help to reduce NA(negative Affects). Teaching students that procrastination may occur in response to distress emphasizes affect regulation over other behavioural changes that may not get to the heart of the problem, such as learning good study habits."

So by understanding how our emotions change towards the activity or the task at hand we can find ways to motivate ourselves by focusing on the bigger picture in addition, to the reasons WHY we started that activity or task.

Here's more to the research if you want to read it.

Shira Pollack & Joanna Herres

Article: Shira Pollack & Joanna Herres (2020): Prior Day Negative Affect InfluencesCurrent Day Procrastination: A Lagged Daily Diary Analysis, Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, DOI:10.1080/10615806.2020.1722573

The link to this article:  https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2020.1722573

#procrastination #negativity #starting #small #to #achieve #big #spotify #applepod

Slow Down To Go Further

My first less is that More effort does not always equal more progress.

This is not the full story, sometimes slowing down can help refreshen up physically- in sports athletes slow down in order to enjoy what they do and to clear the blood lactate as well as clear up the mind so that they can be sharp and perform at their peak. They also use this lesson to learn a new skill, for example, I remember in the mamba mentality book, Kobe mentions that he starts easy and slowly from the rim and then gets further and quicker to build up to the same intensity of a real game. This approach can be used in life generally as well, to enhance the quality of your work and focusing on doing it well (this is usually what separates the best from the rest). You are much more likely to continue something if you enjoy doing it sustainably over long period of time, so slowing down to reset can help you achieve your goal in the long term. Mentally slowing down is the best way to gain clarity and focus on the task at hand.

I saw a quote that says "slow is smooth, smooth is fast"

Hunger For Trying New Things

My second lesson is having the curiosity to try new things and going deeper to understand what you like and what you don't like. That, I learned can help to shape your future with better judgement and experience about the things you want to do. See it's okay to not know what you want to do in life- which is great because then you go and explore to understand not only the world around you but also to understand yourself better, and that's why you test different things at every spectrum whether that is a subject or idea, job, book, project or even a hobby. This is not only something that helps you understand your limits but it opens up the potential since now that you know what you are capable of doing, it allows you to be optimistic about a way to find a solution. Trying something and learning from it opens up the door to allow you to make better decisions for your present and future in addition, to that it allows you to live life to the fullest.

Useful Sources

Here is a Great Article that I Have found that explains the benefits of slowing down.

The Paradox of Slowing Down to Go Farther | Mindful Ambition

#kobe #mambamentality #slowdown #togetfurther #live #life #tothefullest

25/06/2021

Welcome to Learnt, on today's episode I talk about the personal project that I have been working on over the week and what I have learned from it.

Trial and Error

I have been thinking about this project for a long time and I usually just write notes on it but I never started it because of uni work. This week, on Monday I decided to go back to my notes and began a rough model of the shoe design. Once I was happy with the design, I began putting the electronic components into the shoes and this by far has been the most difficult part of the entire project. Because I had to consider the material, my weight, the battery and the chip. Finally, after the 12 iterations (each time with a completely different design) everything worked perfectly without any issues. What I have learnt from doing this project is to keep going. When you get to a stumbling block, stop everything and do something else, the reason for that is, you tend to keep thinking about a solution at the back of your mind while you do other things. There is some type of chemistry that develops when doing that and that through perseverance how I found the solution to it.

Enjoy the process more than the end result, because the process is the most important part of your progress and shows your hard work, and that is something you can document to show or be proud of the journey you went through. Or you may document it so that people can comment on and further your progress.

WIHLT

#enjoy #process #consistency #keep #going

14/06/2021

Welcome back!

It's been too long since I have done an episode I have been very busy with Uni essays, which now I'm done with for the year now. In today`s episode, I talk about how important recovery is in busy and stressful times. This is something I have neglected as I now reflect over the year, the simple reason for that is because I was so focused on my work. I was chasing perfection on my work which is never a good idea because it never ends, which frustrated me. This is where I begin to forget about time and energy management, once I get to this point I usually understand that I am going to burn out beyond this particular time. Make recovery a habit because it allows you to structure your day in a way that can make it much more enjoyable and less stressful.

I know three ways to recover

1- sleep

Sleep is the best way to completely recover physically and even mentally. Athletes take advantage of this because it helps them to fully rejuvenate and be ready for the next game. Usually, it's 7 plus hours of sleep.

2-Stretch

I Stretch every time I finish my time block (when I'm working on a project), which I think is the quickest way to refresh myself ( where get fresh new ideas or perspectives).

3-walk

I usually take Fridays off and take a walk down the park or go for a cycle if the weather is good.

Now there are other methods to recover but in this episode, I want to highlight the importance of recovery mentally and physically for your wellbeing.

20/05/2021

Welcome back, it`s been a long time since I have done an Episode that's because I have been busy with end of year exams and essays. In today's episode, I want to talk about 2 things that I learnt.

1- If you start at 15 years old, reading 2 hours every day until 75, you will have read 4380 books and at the extreme end you would have read about 6000 books in your lifetime. In a library of 10 million books, that less is than 0.1% of the books that you are able to read in your lifetime. So what I have learnt is that it's not how many books but the right books. Choose wisely- which is not easy- based on your interest and what you are curious about.

2- Humans cannot comprehend negativity (Simon Sinek), let me give you an example. If I told you not to think about an apple, don't think about an apple, you already did! So when you want to do something that you want to focus on, tell yourself what you can do, ill give you a personal example, I was doing a video for a community project, I messed up a few lines and people were getting frustrated, then I began to think about not messing up. This is where I started to mess up the lines even more, by thinking this way I increased the chances of me messing up. In this case, I need to think about what I can do and that is to break down the lines to make it short or do some tongue twisters and know I'm going to get it right. Skiers do this as well, they focus on the path they are going through rather than thinking about avoiding the trees(as obstacles) this allows them to perform much better and be able to navigate through the path easily. A lot of Athletes use this method to reinforce their abilities and allows them to perform at the biggest or at the most important moments.

#Humans #negativity #books #Simonsinek

Thank you for listening.

WIHLT- is a podcast where I share what I have learnt in my day or week.

17/04/2021

Storytelling

I have been inspired by Kobe`s Dear Basketball movie, in the way he showed how much he loved basketball and the impact it had on him, that resonated with me because it`s everything an Athlete feels, even though I am not officially an athlete. I want to tell stories in order to have a positive impact on people and inspire positive change. I learnt that storytelling is the most impactful way of conveying your message "With a story, you can spark action and inspire people to join".

Here's some points that I have taken notes of:

-A strong theme is always running through a well told story- for example "wanting to belong" is a theme, "finding who you are" is a theme and "wanting change".

-Can You evoke wonder? Using what you know and your own life experiences or you can make it up based on other ideas.

-One of the things that great storytellers do is embrace obstacles for their characters, which is why it appeals to our emotions and some of these events happen in a surprising and unexpected way which draws us in.

-On a basic level a story should have a beginning, middle and an end. Great Stories begin with a problem, that leads to a rising action, building to  climax then it comes a satisfying resolution.

The Danger of a Single Story

I came across a TED talk when I was searching how to tell good stories, It was about the danger of a single story by a storyteller called Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, she talked about how the books she read formed her views about the world around her. She shows how dangerous it can be if the one story you read becomes the only story, because then you form your view based upon that single story which gives you an incomplete picture. I tend to see a lot of that in newspaper and articles and In the case of the newspapers that tend to focus on one side of the story without telling the other, it can create stereotypes that are true but they are incomplete. For example, I watch a lot of sports and I keep up with what's going on by reading articles that give insight into sport teams- premier league in particular- when writers talk about some teams or athletes they sometimes paint them in a negative way, and people usually take that and make it the only story about that team or athlete without considering the other side of the story and their views become solidified. This is a very subtle example but it can become extreme when stereotypes are created based on race, gender or nationality of the athlete.

"The single story creates stereotypes. And the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story."  -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#TED #Stories 

03/04/2021

This week I have been taking some time off from Uni and focusing on me. And so I have been been reading a book called Banker to the poor by Muhammad Yunus, coincidently he has the same name as I do but spelt differently.

So one of the things I learnt is to find solutions to your own specific problems  because you know it better than anyone and sometimes you look for a solution somewhere else and you cant find it- some people stop there- so explore it deeper. 

Let me give you an example, in the first semester I was struggling with my time management, so I asked some lecturers but they gave me the general advice "turn off distractions" and stuff. That does not help because I am struggling with fitting everything on 24 hours, that`s sleep, me time(rest), lecture podcasts, project, tasks from modules and some entertainment. The projects took over everything else and that`s because i did not know how to manage my energy as consequence I could not do the other things I wanted to do. Now I made my own timetable to address that, this time schedule does not only help me but hopefully other students as well. 

Another example is from Muhmmad Yunus who understood what's causing the famine from the perspective of the villagers, he not only went and spoke to them but also looked at why do banks not offer these poor women the credit to support themselves. He found that culturally women were not allowed to deal with money and that is real issue even if he is the one who could lend them money. Now he explained this to other bakers but they could not offer their credit because according to them "its simply too risky". So now that Muhammed understands he cannot explain the cultural and economical issues to other economist (because they have not took the time to investigate what is the root cause) he is going to have face the challenges himself so he decided to experiment his ideas to see if they will really have any impact on the poor. He found the solution (by micro-lending to the poor) and helped the village and later the country.

You solve your own problems because you understand them the best.

The second thing I have learnt is that your always learning in whatever craft you are doing.

For example, my first episode of this podcast is probably not the best and I knew that. First you have to start and then refine from then on- so you start learning about the different aspects of the podcast, the timings, your voice, the content and the way produce will all eventually get better overtime. That's how Joe Rogan got to his position, that's how we got to the moon and that's how we will eventually get to mars. You are always learning and adapting to do better, from this perspective you can experiment and know that it is a one way street to making huge progress to get to that result.

Your Always Learning so you can only get better.

26/03/2021

This week the book finally arrived- It was next day delivery- I knew Kobe had a relentless work ethic, creative on and off the field and so I wanted to see if could learn something from him. I happen to play football a lot so I wanted to copy some of the ways Kobe goes on about his game, plus I wanted to know how he plays. The biggest lesson I have Learnt from him Is, focusing on the process he says "the mindset isn`t about seeking a result- it`s more about the process of getting to that result" and he shows the journey in the book. 

The other thing I have learned from him is the attention to detail which is something advantageous when you are learning about something, for him attention to detail is everything- when studying film (plays of his opposition or himself), or the preparation before the game (he activates his ankles  before the game to prevent problems in the knees hips and back) or the emotions he is going through. I always admired that, the obsession to focus and put in the work to get to the results. 

#Mambamentality 

Kobe Bryant, The Mamba Mentality, 2018. 

On this week episode- its all about lessons that I have learnt from leaving my comfort zone.

1- is Teamwork- I did not know how valuable team work is until I did a Climate #Change project, that allowed me to see the power of team work, it propelled the ideas from different perspectives and I saw not only how much we can get done but I also how far our Idea can go.

2- Giving a speech- The day before the presentation for the Climate change challenge I realised I will have to do the talking, since the other team member could not present. I Immediately noticed that I need to learn to calm my nerves and also work on my speech, so I went on #YouTube and found #Think Fast, talk smart communication techniques. Which I found very helpful, one way to manage anxiety is to meet it and simply greet your anxiety. Another point is that there is no "right" way or "wrong" way only better or worse ways. When you start to speak use conversational language, not complicated and sophisticated words. This makes it more relaxed to the audience and it is viewed as conversation with the audience.