Tag: focus

self-reliance

Missing From the Story

Pete Huryk

MissingStories are an integral part of our society and have been for thousands of years.  Whether the Odyssey, the Bible, Star Wars or Romeo & Juliet, the stories of the present and past have almost all been intended to tell us something.  Not particularly something about the past although many are historical in nature.  More often than not, stories are trying to tell us something about the human condition.  Although a form of entertainment, they can also be instructive.

Characters are not just imaginary people to play make believe for us real humans.  They represent a myriad of possible traits, life courses and mindsets.  Whether Han Solo, Jesus, the Lorax or Hector, each one offers the gift of possibility.  The idea of a life slightly different from our own.  They offer themselves up in front of us on the screen or the page in order for us to judge them and their value.  At that point their power or lack there of is left up to us.

What’s missing from the story is you.  If you only admire the heroism of Han Solo or the kindness of Jesus but never transfer it into your own life, then these characters truly are lifeless.  However, if you’re willing to take up their plight from the page, then they truly do live.  It is not enough for heroism, kindness and love to exist in movies and books because evil and hatred are alive in the real world.  So if you truly love a movie or book, then show it by becoming an actor.  A person who acts in the stead of those imaginary people.  The world is waiting for your story to be told and you’re the only thing that’s missing.

Act today!

Pete

self-reliance

Mr. Magoo, An American Idol?

Pete Huryk

MagooIdols are supposed to be held in high esteem, the very personification of the things that we want to be.  It hit me like a lightning bolt this morning that Mr. Magoo is truly an American idol for so many people.  For those youngsters out there, Mr. Magoo was a cartoon character whose poor eyesight routinely got him into precarious situations but he always escapes unscathed and sometimes falls into good fortune.  Feel free to watch one Mr. Magoo cartoon on YouTube.  Once you’ve seen one, you’ve basically seen them all (minus little details).  The overarching idea behind Mr. Magoo is that his problem would be easily fixed if he were just to put on his glasses but he wants to deny his problem rather than face it.

Although it isn’t pretty, this seems to be a scarily accurate description of how many of us live our lives.  We recognize our problem but are too damn stubborn, lazy or indifferent to do anything about it.  Seemingly our greatest hope is that we can meander through life blind to our inadequacies and not have them bite us in the ass.  While this makes for a mildly amusing cartoon, it is a disastrous strategy for living a life of fulfillment and progress.

Rather than turning a blind eye to your inadequacies, stare at them with crystal clear vision, even put them under a microscope if need be.  Decide what you truly want: to feel good in the moment or feel good long term.  If you want the Magoo life, then by all means turn the blind eye.  BUT if you want more from your life, then you and you alone will need to make the decision to systematically work on your areas of weakness until they can no longer hurt you.  Maybe it’s something as simple as putting on glasses but perhaps it will take years or even decades to overcome.  Regardless, it’s up to you to Magoo or not.

Pete

 

 

self-reliance

Bad Gladiators Died

Pete Huryk

gladiatorIt wasn’t a 100% binary equation.  Gladiators could win, lose or “tie”.  Not even all of the defeated were condemned to death.  Despite these extenuating circumstances, one thing is most definitely certain, bad gladiators died.  I have no desire to bring back gladiatorial games or anything of the sort but in some ways our pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.

In modern society the crowd would seemingly want every gladiator to feel like a winner.  Swords would be made of foam rubber but helmets would still be worn just in case.  Gladiators would be paired by skill level and the most likely death would come from boredom of the truly talented gladiators.  While I am not a fan of truly “zero sum games”, there have to be stakes.  Gladiators got good because they had to.  Everyone knew that bad gladiators die, the gladiators knew this best.

By all accounts we do not live in a gladiatorial society nor would I truly want to.  A bloodthirsty mob looking to revel in the pain of the vanquished is not where we need to go.  However a world without stakes has no incentive to move forward.  The same holds for an individual.  What is at stake for you today?  Have you set yourself up in a game where you can win, lose or tie?  Or is nothing at stake today?  Are you armed with your foam rubber sword hacking away at the same meaningless opponent that you fought yesterday?  Bad gladiators of the past got to die quickly.  Bad gladiators today die slowly while trying to reassure themselves that they would be lethal if not for this foam rubber.  The price of finding out if you’re good or not is to risk the possibility of dying on the metaphorical sword.  That might be embarrassment, finances, time or many other things but something needs to be at stake.  So step into the arena, put something on the line and see what you’re made of!

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena!

Pete

 

 

self-reliance

Wish You Were Here (and I wasn’t)

Pete Huryk

WishYouWereHereIt is not an uncommon thing at all to wish for a future that is yet to come or a past that is long gone.  Humans have the blessing and the curse to be able to mentally exist in the past and future while ignoring the present.  It is a blessing because it allows us the freedom to live in the most useful plane.  The curse is the propensity to relive or project the worst of experiences or possibilities.  At all times, the mind has the capability of transporting the self elsewhere.  With this ultimate power to determine much of our existence, surprisingly most people defer control to the moment or to their “monkey mind”.  Imagine if you will driving a car with no steering wheel.  The gas and the brakes are great tools but without the ability to steer, one is at the mercy of the terrain and the tires.

So the key to moving forward in a direction of your own desire means developing a steering mechanism.  How long would you drive that car without a steering wheel?  Not long at all before you or someone else added that key component.  The key to your mental steering comes down to practice.  Pulling your mind in the direction of your choosing on a regular basis.  When it wanders, you must take control again.  Under no circumstances is this easy.  It’s easy to be swayed by right now.  It’s easy to run the patterns that you’ve been running for years or decades.  Those are the paths of least resistance but I assure you that they will not get you to your destination in a timely or comfortable manner.

So take this moment to decide.  Decide who you are now and who you want to be in the future (you can’t fix the past but you can change its meaning).  Once you have those in mind, start with a half hour each day where you think and act only in line with that vision.  If your mind wanders, bring it back!  As you get better and better at completing that half hour, it will begin to dump over into the other hours of the day.  Eventually the you from the vision and your reality will be one in the same.  The only question for now is, are you willing to take control?

Bon Voyage!

Pete

Uncategorized

Left Turns Required

Pete Huryk

lefthandI’m fully willing to admit that I’m a relatively passive driver.  It’s almost to a fault.  Most of the driving routes that I take for local trips are based on their lack of difficult left turns.  It’s not that I’m incapable of making the turns nor do I lack the patience to wait for openings.  My overarching thought process is that I don’t engage with unknown chaos if I don’t need to.  Overall I’m happy with the strategy.  However recently I’ve been forcing myself to do more left turn heavy routes.  Just to demonstrate to myself that my passivity is a strategy that I want and not character flaw born out of fear.

In many areas of our lives, we tend to become accustomed to things.  There is almost an autopilot type of function that we employ to the regular and presupposed.  This is not a problem until it is.  Often the need for comfort keeps us anchored to the known.  Most of the time the known is a positive but eventually you may end up driving in circles.  “Big Ben, Parliament!”

People have an ingrained need to feel safe and comfortable.  Unfortunately those emotions do not usually help you move forward in the most direct route.  The road to your ideal life is not lined with rose petals, rainbows and unicorns.  It is going to require grit, determination, unwavering faith in that unseen and YES!  Hard left turns through major traffic!  This realization is necessary to reach new destinations.  If you’re happy going where you’ve always gone with path of least resistance, then by all means keep going that way.  If not, then it’s time to recognize the power of the left turn and accept that they are going to be integral to you reaching your destination.

For my international reader who may drive on the left hand side of the road, just reverse all that I just said! :p

Go get there!

Pete

Uncategorized

Your Invisible Nose

Pete Huryk

IMG_2892Sometimes the hardest things to see are those that are right in front of you.  Your nose is always front and center but most of us don’t pay it any mind.  The reason why we tend to forget about it is because it is always there.  Our brains tend to discard or ignore those things that can be taken for granted.  Air, light, food, water, friends, opportunity, etc. are just a beginning to the list of things that we take for granted each day.  This is not to say that we should be spending major amounts of time contemplating air in a recreational effort.  It is simply to point out that your brain is working at all times to determine what is worth your attention and what is not.  This ability to ignore the inconsequential is wonderful until it isn’t.  As they say, the dose makes the poison.

Although our brains were originally designed to act in our best interest, the operating system has not been updated in a long time.  So if you do not intervene on your own behalf, your brain will protect you from things that are no longer relevant.  Most of the fear and anxiety that you feel is supposed to keep you from being eaten by a bear or be kicked out of the tribe.  The latter is more relevant than the former but both need to oversight.  On its default settings, your brain will keep you alive and partially comfortable in the modern world.  If you are looking for more than that, then you need to be more deliberate about the things that you see.

The invisible nose is just a representation of the things that you’re ignoring.  More important things are out there that you should be aggressively pursuing but you just don’t see them.  Opportunities pass you by or better yet you pass them by regularly.  The reason is that you’re not programmed to notice them.  That’s not safe!  Stay where it’s comfortable!  Don’t stand out!  Don’t fail!  These are all things that your brain screams subliminally everyday.  Unless you take control and look for that which is most important to you.  Those things may not be as obvious as you want them to be.  Although they might be directly in front of you, they may be buried under a pile of societal and personal hard-wiring.  Hacking your way through that will be difficult, time consuming and totally worth it once you’re on the other side.

So I’ve give you permission.  Look at the world with fresh eyes and endeavor to see everything.  Hack away at the beliefs that no longer make sense.  Filter your vision to look for the ideal rather than the real.  Your past low expectations will be there to catch you if you fall.  It starts with a moment and builds from there.  Make this your first moment!

Have a great day!

Pete

 

self-reliance

Exhausting the Thumb

Pete Huryk

IMG_2786I would not have been surprised if I annoyed the hell out of my former teammates.  It’s not that I’m a bad player, I’m actually OK (or was).  The annoying factor would come from two things in particular.  First, I never shut up.  I talk incessantly.  Almost as if I were the unofficial play by play announcer for our team.  The other would be my tendency to blame everything that went wrong on myself.  Regardless of how small of an influence I had on a situation, I tended to focus on my little component rather than anyone else’s.  If a goal was scored, it was almost always followed by an admission of guilt.  As an intelligent human being and player, I realize that not everything that went wrong was my fault.  It’s just not true.  However I always wanted to exhaust the thumb before I went to the finger.

In a world where almost everything is on video, accountability is an easy thing to track, especially in sports.  Who lost their mark or misplayed a pass is available in HD clarity.  I’m not particularly keen on accountability though.  It has its place.  However responsibility is a much more interesting quality.  People need to take responsibility.  Accountability can be handed out and often leads to separation.  Fingers tend to make enemies and excuses.  Thumbs tend to make leaders and solutions.  By continuously pointing the thumb at one’s self before resorting to the finger, a few very important things happen.

First, the thumbed individual sees him or herself a part of a larger whole which is influenced by the actions of all.  Like the butterfly that flaps its wings and contributes to an eventual hurricane.  A person willing to exhaust the thumb recognizes that they’re not working independently of the rest of the group, team, company or world.  Every action of the individual has the potential to influence a much larger whole.  Could a tiny gesture of kindness toward a neighbor influence the relations of an entire town or city?  Absolutely!  Especially if those actions are done consistently.

Second, the thumbed individual infrequently or never blames others.  This posture creates fewer separations between people.  Finding fault in others rarely creates better behavior.  It usually only creates resentment for the person doing the blaming.  Most people in this world are their own harshest critic.  Giving them the ability to rectify the situation without judgment can go a long way toward future success.  Fear of letting someone down is a much stronger motivator than fear of punishment.  It also has the added benefit of creating better relations between people who are giving their best to each other and know that criticism (if it comes) will come with understanding.

Like anything else that is really important in life, not everyone will do this because it’s hard.  It’s so much easier to lose your temper or “let off some steam”.  After all things are often other people’s fault.  Taking on this world view doesn’t change that.  However it does get you focus on the only person that you can fully control, yourself.  If you are in control of yourself, then it’s possible that you’ll end up where you want to go.

Have a great day!

Pete

SoccerLifeBalance

80’s Hair Band Soccer Logic

Pete Huryk

PoisonAlthough the 1980’s were memorable for many reasons, the crazy hair is probably one of the most prevalent.  Big hair was all the rage at the time.  Many of the 80’s rock bands invested a lot of time and money on their hair.  Image was almost more important than the music.  I’ve even heard interviews with bands who tried to gain information on the hair products of more successful bands in order to copy their formula.  It’s a silly image isn’t it?  Grown men hanging their hopes of musical success on the type of hairspray that they use.  There is a disconnect that should have been obvious to all involved but sometimes people are too close to the situation to see their own ridiculousness.

A similar phenomena is rampant in the soccer world and a good hard look in the mirror is more than overdue.  Each and every week, millions of kids and adults practice their skills of passing, dribbling, heading and shooting.  Coaches spend hours trying to help these players improve their skills and coalesce the group’s talents into tactics.  Meticulous care is given to all facets of the game including set plays on both the offensive and defensive side.  After hours of preparation, game day finally arrives.  The first whistle blows and that training seems to take a backseat.  It’s overshadowed by telling the one person not displaying any soccer skill about how badly he or she is doing.  The referee takes center stage in a contest that should be focused on the soccer skills of the players.  Much like the hairspray obsessed rock bands, the coaches, players and fans have taken something that should be incidental and made it THE big deal.

Having been a high school and youth coach for years, I’ve seen the lower level of refereeing on display.  While frustrating at times, the arbiter of the game should not overshadow all of the preparation that has been done.  Here are some suggestions that I have to put refereeing in its proper context.

  1. Audit yourself – If more than 25% of the things that you say are directed at the referee, then you’re focused on the wrong thing.  Your players need guidance, your teammates need information, your children need encouragement.  The referee does not need more reminding that you have disagreed with all of his calls.
  2. Walk a mile – Not literally but figuratively.  Get certified and start refereeing some low level games.  Or referee a scrimmage between two teams that you’re not associated with.  Either way the experience will change how you view the job.
  3. Try a new strategy – Rather than berating the next referee that you encounter, try something new.  If you’re a player, in a calm voice during a stoppage, ask him or her to watch for something that has been happening regularly.  “Sir, could you keep an eye out for #15 fouling after the play.  Thanks!”  If you’re a coach, ask the referee to remember a particular foul or incident for discussion later.  If you’re a fan, concentrate on the play of your team.  This is what your team has worked for, see their play.  Otherwise it’s like going to an opera but spending all of your time focused on the conductor’s outfit.  He’s supposed to be invisible.
  4. Recognize the long term – Donuts in small quantities are not by themselves dangerous.  If they are a small part of an otherwise balanced diet, the occasional treat is not harmful.  However constant abuse can be destructive.  The same is true for our refereeing situation.  The constant abuse of referees has led to a shortage that eventually could cripple the game.  That position has to be held by a human.  Who would sign up for the pervasive abuse that referees receive?

So as you prepare for this weekend’s contest, make a decision to focus on the game rather than the official.  After over 35 years of playing and coaching there are exactly two things that I’m sure of:  1.  All referees make mistakes.  2. They don’t get better or change their calls because you tell them that they suck.  For the love of the game, let’s all try to do better out there.  The hair bands can look back and be amused.  Let’s not all look back and be ashamed.

Pete

It’s a bit older now but still a good message from the English FA.

self-reliance

The Give Up Bargain

Pete Huryk

zeusLately I’ve been thinking a lot about the old school gods and their importance in the lives of our ancestors.  Although we have so many technological and societal advantages, there are some aspects to their belief structure that could be helpful if implemented.  I’ve joked several times that I may start worshiping Zeus and the other Greek gods because of their idiosyncrasies.  You’re less likely to beat yourself up over work snafu when your god is regularly cheating on his wife.  Despite the possible comedy arising from this, I don’t know that there’s much to it.  The main area that most of the ancient religions have in common is the concept of “sacrifice”.  I will be focusing on the non-human variety.

With a scientifically inferior way of understanding the world, our ancestors intuitively seem to have comprehended something that has become lost recently.  Despite the fact that their reasons for sacrificing crops, animals, etc. was founded in mythology, it is a practical lesson.  The recognition of giving something up in the hope of influencing the greater system.  I’m sure that the phrase “give up” came from the ceremonial act of giving a thing up to a deity.  As our world has more, we are less willing to go without.  We don’t see the point.  Our parents and grandparents worked hard for the prosperity that we now enjoy.  Therefore we “deserve” everything we have.  Unfortunately the word DE-SERVE, could be hyphenated and it means “from service”.  To keep that which we have, we must continue to serve.  Or to get more we must serve more.  At a certain point the words service and sacrifice tend to intertwine.

So the give up bargain is simple.  Recognize that on some level, you’ll need to give up something that you have in order to get that which you want.  Not in any religious context but in a more practical way.  Giving up your anger will allow you to find peace.  Giving up your excessive eating will allow you to find the slimmer you.  The reverse is also in play.  If you are not acting in the service of what you already have, it will eventually be taken from you.  You are not an independent force in this world/universe.  Your actions have consequences.  Giving and taking are two sides of the same coin.  Therefore they are linked.  Keep this in mind as you give things up.  The lottery mentality is a losing strategy because it applies in such a small number of cases.  Practical sacrifice and service of that which matters most to you.  When you decide what you want, also decide on what you’re willing to give up to get it.  Usually this bargain will involve trading now for later and so many of us are in love with NOW.

Give up today!

Pete

 

Uncategorized

Bathroom Logic

Pete Huryk

IMG_2726To my toilet, I’m either a dick or asshole.  To my shower, I’m varying degrees of dirty.  To my mirror, I’m vain or self-obsessed.  And you can just imagine what the toilet paper thinks of me.  All of these perspectives are completely accurate but taken from a narrow view

Each day we live our lives and show particular sides of ourselves to people.  None of them is 100% accurate but also they are not 100% inaccurate.  We cannot control other people’s perception of us.  That is in their control.  What’s within our control are the actions that we take and the words that we use.

I’m completely comfortable with my toilet thinking of me as an asshole.  However that’s not the message that I want to send to everyone.  Being the person that you want people to see takes effort and forethought.  Decide to give your best to the people who matter.  That way you know they’ll be there when you’re at your worst.

Have a great day people.

Pete