Freedom From Unreasonable Expectations

10 Nov 2011 1 Comment

by fearlesspetula in Uncategorized

Patience is not one of my strengths.  I’ve spent years working on cultivating more patience and, while I am more patient now than I was a decade ago, I’ve still got a ways to go.  I get impatient that I’m not making more progress towards becoming a more patient person.

I find it’s become easier for me to be patient about certain aspects of my life.  For example, thanks to over a decade of yoga practice, I’ve learned to be much more patient with my body.  I’ve had many experiences in which I’ve tried to force my body into complying with what my head deems necessary and/or desirable and, more times than not, I’ve ended in increased frustration, discomfort, and/or injury.  My body taught me that some things just can’t be forced; I will grow stronger and more flexible through time and practice.

Practice is the key, whether it’s in terms of the transformation of my body or the goals I have for my professional life.  The recognition of the significance of time and practice to the achievement of any goal is really what frees me from the barrage of negative criticisms my mind wants to unleash whenever it grows impatient with my efforts.  For this, I find much comfort in the 10,000-hour rule — Malcolm Gladwell’s assertion that the key to success comes from practicing a skill for 10,000 hours.

When I invoke the 10,000-hour rule for myself (e.g. when I am frustrated that I can’t seem to master a particular yoga pose), I am not doing so as an excuse.  What I find particularly useful about the rule is that it helps give me some perspective so that I can see when I am being unreasonable in my expectations.

Personally I find the reference to the rule to be encouraging and a reminder to be compassionate.  I also don’t think of the rule as something set in stone; my guess is that it may take even more than 10,000 hours for me to master some things (I also accept that there are some things that I will never master, no matter the tens of thousands of hours I put into it).  Yet, while I may not have complete mastery at the end of 10,000 hours, I have no doubt that I will definitely be more accomplished at whatever that skill is after I have invested that much time in practicing it.

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