One of the things I’ve been focusing on in the last year or so is getting better at playing the drums. When you think about the general concept of playing drums it might seam pretty simple: you hit drums and cymbals with sticks.
One of the things that you discover in the process of learning the drums is that where you hold the drum sticks makes a huge difference in the results you get, in terms of how accurate your hits can be and how effortless the process is.
If you hold a drum stick too far towards the non hitting end, it’s easier to hit a drum because gravity and the weight of the stick do most of the work but it becomes hard to have enough control to be accurate. If you hold the stick too far towards the hitting end, while you can be very accurate, it takes a lot more of your own effort because gravity and the weight of the stick are not doing any of the work.
There is an exact point on a drum stick that allows you the most accuracy and the most effortlessness. You might think that this point is directly in the middle of the stick but it’s not. It’s slightly away from the middle towards the non hitting end. When you hold the stick at this point you achieve the maximum amount of accuracy along with the maximum amount of effortlessness. You are letting gravity do most of the work, but you are holding the stick at the exactly point where you can direct it exactly where you want it to go when you want it to go there. It’s the perfect balance between directing things to happen and allowing things to happen. Playing the drums then feels more like directing gravity than forcing sticks onto drums and cymbals.
I’m using this stick analogy to illustrate what I’m calling your optimal leverage point because the same concept applies to everything in life. There is an optimal leverage point for every area of your life and when you discover and engage with an area of your life from it’s optimal leverage point, you experience maximum happiness and maximum results in that area simultaneously. The process feels both effortless and exciting and the results you get are the best they could possibly be all at the same time. This is true for your work life, your relationships, your health and your life’s purpose.
So how do we find the optimal leverage point?
The two main activities that make a difference in changing your experience for the better are:
Enjoying what is happening now and
Improving your circumstances
When things feel less than effortless and exciting or the results we are getting are less than we want in any of the above areas of life, chances are we are not “holding” the situation from the optimal leverage point. We are either not focusing on enjoying what is happening right now enough or not focusing on improving the circumstance enough.
Your optimal leverage point is the point where you are focusing on these two activities in the optimal amount to achieve both maximum happiness and maximum results. It’s the point where your focus is slightly more on enjoying what is happening right now and the rest on improving your circumstances.
If you want, experiment with waking up tomorrow with only these two jobs to do in this order of priority:
Job #1) Enjoying each moment as much as possible while you are
Job #2) Improving your circumstances as much as possible
You might discover that by focusing only on these two things in these amounts, you are automatically holding your life at the optimal leverage point. You might discover things automatically becoming more effortless, more exciting and better.
-Andy
For words and music that empower, visit: http://www.AndyHarrisonMusic.com
Comments