Does Practice Make Perfect? If you're really very good at something, chances are you have put in a lot of practice . . .

"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good.

It's the thing you do that makes you good."

Malcolm Gladwell,

from the book

'Outliers;

The Story of Success.'

That is one very successful book, but tell me, if a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success? Don't answer that just yet because studies show that ten thousand hours of practice are required to achieve the level of 'Mastery' associated with being world-class, successful, or an expert . . . in anything!

Ten Thousand hours?

Yeah, that's a lot of practice,

and that is what

separates out the chaff from the wheat!

Remember that little known band called The Beatles? The Who? No, The Beatles! Look, they didn't name themselves after a group of insects ya'know, they were better spellers than that! They named themselves by the Beat of their music, which had an originality to it. Well now, The Beatles did their Ten thousand hours of practice prior to hitting America in 1964. They first got together in 1957, seven years before landing States side of the big pond, and in 1960 they were still just a struggling high school rock band . . . but then they were invited to play in Hamburg, Germany.

Cutting a long story short, during their Hamburg period The Beatles managed to get in ten thousand hours of intensive practice time. What was so special about Hamburg? It wasn't that it paid well. It didn't. Or that the acoustics were fantastic. They weren't. Or that the audiences were savvy and appreciative. They were anything but. It was the sheer amount of time the band was forced to play.

Here is John Lennon, in an interview after The Beatles disbanded, talking about the band's performances at a Hamburg strip club called Indra (please read in a strong Liverpudlian accent):

"We got better and got more confidence. We couldn't help it with all the experience playing all night long. It was handy them being foreign. We had to try even harder, put our heart and soul into it, to get ourselves over.

In Liverpool, we'd only ever done one-hour sessions, and we just used to do our best numbers, the same ones, at every one. In Hamburg, we had to play for 'eight' hours, so we really had to find a new way of playing."

Eight hours a night . . . seven days a week . . . Hamburg was the place where the Beatles went from an average band to a great band. Why? Because they got in ten thousand hours of practice.

OK, The Beatles . . . that's just one such example, but these Studies have shown that every successful wo/man, band, sportsman etc. becomes successful not simply through their talent, but through the number of hours they put into practicing and developing that talent.

Yes it's true what they say, that practice makes perfect,

and ten thousand hours of practice makes for expertise and mastery of your subject.

As an aside I'd also say that 40 days and nights in the wilderness would probably equate to someone becoming enlightened for example . . . there would be plenty of hours of stillness, oneness and simply being in the moment; enough to break through the conditioning of the ego/mind.

So, what I'm saying here is that 'Success', on any level, requires a balance of both 'talent' and 'practice'. Yes, you can add words like perseverance and determination if you so choose, but . . .

. . . what it comes down to is this:

When you do something you really love to do, and you are also good at it, then the persistence and determination . . are already there . . . . they're a given. Why are they a given? Because you are doing something you love doing and are passionate about, you actually enjoy doing it and want to get better at it, now all you have to do is create a situation which equates to The Beatles 'Hamburg' scenario.

Don't worry about getting paid well (or at all) at this stage, don't be concerned with perfect circumstances, and don't expect everyone to appreciate what you're doing, not everyone will . . but after ten thousand hours of practice you'll be a Master of your subject, and the money, the applause and the appreciation will naturally follow. So . . .

. . . Just do it.

Follow your passion!

WARNING: No Beetles were harmed during the making of this video, although some Beatles lives were enhanced, and one does wonder just how many cockroaches The Beatles encountered during this process!

 

So, practice makes perfect, right? Which reminds me, isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors also call what they do "practice"? Or is it just me?
 
Ha, ha . . all the best till next time . .
 
Doug :-)

What is Humour?

It was T. S. Eliot who said:

"Humour is also a way of saying something serious."

Laughter dissolves distressing emotions.

You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing.

One of us is

a

Red Indian,

the

Other

is

Simply Red?

Yesterday we talked Celery. Today we find out about its fruity side . . .

Anthony goes to the supermarket and notices an attractive woman waving at him.

She says hello.

He's rather taken aback because he can't place where he knows her from.

So he says, "Do you know me?"

 To which she replies,

"I think you're the father of one of my kids."

Now his mind travels back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says,

"Are you the stripper from the bachelor party that I made love to on the pool table with all my buddies watching while your partner whipped my butt with wet celery??"

She looks into his eyes and says calmly,

"No, I'm your son's teacher".

. . . that was just a little
'fruity'
something for the weekend . . .

Fancy a stick of . . .

Did You Know?

You use more

Calories Eating Celery

than there are

in

Celery Itself!

It's True!

***

Celery

was originally a marsh plant found in very wet, boggy areas.

It is related to the parsley family,

and its leaves are vaguely similar to the herb.

***

Celery is the second most important salad crop

in value and popularity

after lettuce.

***

Celery has been used in Oriental medicine

for many years

to

lower blood pressure.

***

5 a Day -

3 sticks of celery count

as

1 portion towards 5 a day.

*** 

Celery

contains only 7 calories per 100g

and

is also a good source of

Vitamin C.

***

Here is a
Little known
Tip
For You:

Celery stalks separated,
placed in cold water for fifteen minutes,
dried and placed in a freezer bag
will keep crisp for two weeks in the refrigerator.

***

. . . it's all good fruit4thought people!

. . . yeah, OK, I know Celery's not a fruit, look,

you're missing the point . . .

;-)



Reasons to Recycle

Did You Know?

It takes about

63,000

Trees

To make the

Newsprint

For the
Average Sunday Edition

Of
The New York Times?


 

Reasons to Recycle?

Where is the fruit? Well it is harvest festival . . .

Hello Friends of Fruit,

   Welcome back to the fruit of Life blog! Thanks for returning to the fold once more, where have you been? I've written so many posts over these past few months and there's been no one here to read them! What do you mean there haven't been any posts on here for some time; are you a fruit and nutcase? 

   No, you're not a fruit and nutcase . . . I apologize, I've been away from here . . . I started this blog with good intentions but then I found I had so many other commitments to run with . . . that . . . well something had to give. And as a consequence my blogs, yes, all of them, have suffered as I've been active with other aspects of life. But . . . I'm back, and I'd like to continue with our theme . . . the fruit of Life . . if you'll let me? It is something that is vitally important to both of us, isn't it? I do hope we're in full agreement . . . especially as we are bang in the middle of the harvest festival here . . and fruit abounds!

The fruit of Life is . . . Life Itself!

Now, the fruit of life is Life itself! Wow, did I just hear an echo? Life is full of Fruit. Or we could say that life is fruitful, couldn't we . . and that is a well known saying in itself, yes? But not everyone thinks that life is fruitful, and because some folk have this kind of negative thought process going on, well, for them life is not fruitful. Now, I know that you can probably quite happily tell me how tough life is, if not for you, perhaps for others, and I do understand how difficult living in this man made world can be, but I'm here to tell you that if your life isn't fruitful, and if your life appears to be a mess, well . . . you, yes you, can do something about it!

We seem to live in a world full of people and personalities for whom responsibility is a word that seems to be bucked. Is that a real word, or did I just make it up, bucked? Hold on a mo, I'll just check my online Dictionary.....

. . . dum, dee, dum, dee, dum . . .

. . no, it is a real word! As in to buck, which is what I'm getting at here . . the passing of the buck!

Buck passing seems to go hand in hand with saying that "I'm not responsible for my life". Um, since when?

You'll have noticed, no doubt, that people are generally only too happy to accept all the praise they get when things are going well, when they are successful in a venture for example, but what happens when things are going badly? Hm, well that's when one most needs to take responsibility. Why? So that one can do something to turn things around.

Anyway, what's all this got to do with anything? Well this blog post is all about our mental approach, it's about attitude of mind and understanding that . . .

"What You Acknowledge in Life, is what You get back from Life".

What is your fruit like? I mean the fruit of your life, is it good, are you content with it, does it satisfy you? Are you fulfilled? Or does your fruit of Life School Report read: Could Do Better?

Whatever your answer, and there is no good or bad about it, there is one vital piece of information that you have to know in order to move forward, in order to improve that School Report, in order to enjoy a more wholesome and mouth watering fruit of Life, and that is? Here goes, you have to realise that . . .

You Are The fruit of Life!

Yes, shocking, isn't it? But it's also true, and I'm going to do my utmost to prove this point to you in your own direct experience over the coming weeks and months.

Let me start with a question. You are alive are you not? Just in case you're having a bad day, and you need to upgrade your memory chip, the answer is "Yes, I am alive!" Well done, you just scored 100% on the first test paper! You are indeed alive, and what does that mean? It means that you are life on earth. Not the only life form, for sure . . but you are life itself.

There have been TV programmes about life on earth, and even though those programs were magnificent in their own way, they didn't really focus on real life, no, they focused on second hand life; life that is separate and apart from the life you are. I'm talking about that wonderful series entitled 'Life on Earth' presented by Sir David Attenborough, you may have seen them? Don't get me wrong about those programmes, they were a wonderful documentation of forms of life on earth . . but 'Life on earth' itself? Hm, well in my own experience there is a difference. You see, those TV programmes talk about life as if it is separate from you, but is it? Are you not life? You agree that you are alive . . I know that you do . . so, are you not life on earth? Are you not first hand life? Well, whatever your answer, there's food for thought in what I've written here, right?  Look again . . .

I'm saying that You are The Fruit of Life.

What does that mean for you? It means that everything that grows within the garden of your life has been sown by you; you are the gardener. You reap the harvest. You really can't separate out life from you. Now, accepting that is an almighty step forward in terms of self-responsibility, and it isn't necessarily an easy thing to do . . but that is the task in hand. Also, if the harvest of your life is good, well it's enough to put you in festive spirits, not just during the harvest, but throughout your whole life, and within every activity of your life.


Ruby's Harvest Festival Box.


  Over the coming weeks and months we will look at this subject in greater detail, but there will be some posts that deviate greatly from this subject matter, and even this particular format. Sometimes, if I consider a short post to be of value, I may well throw in a few quick words here and there . . or a video etc. So there will be longish posts like these, and they will be interspersed with short sharp posts that may be humorous, serious or a mix of the two . . who knows for sure until it all unfolds? (wink, wink ;-)  

I hope you'll continue to enjoy this blog even if it does shamelessly promote my other activities as 1Yogi2Many and my work as an EFT practitioner and a WV Representative etc; all these activities represent opportunities for me to share some fruit with you; and you should go ahead and share your fruit right back at me . . Splat!

Now, whether you choose to enjoy my fruit is entirely up to you my friend. My responsibility is to share my fruit with you, your responsibility is simply to decide if the taste of the fruit is good!

If you do enjoy the taste of the fruit on this blog, will you do me one big favour? Will you share its fruit with others? Word of mouth is both the King and Queen when it comes to growing our fruitful blogs, businesses and our particular interests. And so I would really appreciate it if you would consider letting others into our little secret here, and I'll do the same for you . . many thanks.

Ready for a fruitful joke now? OK, this one is more of a pun I guess:

When I bought some fruit trees the nursery owner gave

me some insects to help with pollination.

Yes, they were free bees.

Warning: The author takes no responsibility for the safety of anyone who decides to go on holiday with the gorillas in, or out, of the mist. Whilst there, if you do choose to exchange a glance with a gorilla, be sure to have your life saving fruit with you; preferably a bunch of bananas.

  Many thanks for returning to, and reading, the fruit of life blog, which I've returned to posting on! I do hope that this time our fruit will self-seed, grow fresh plants and in due course produce another harvest . If you've enjoyed this particular post, and even if you haven't, it would be good to receive your comments in the space below. I'll be sure to harvest them in my heart . . .

All the best for now,

Doug :-)