A key component of learning something new quickly is found in the ability to make distinctions. A distinction is made when the difference in the value of a characteristic or property makes one thing FUNDAMENTALLY different from another thing.
For skill transference purposes, a characteristic or property is not a fundamental property if a difference in the values applied has no perceptible impact on the desired outcome (eg the cool graphics on my Vivie-girl aren’t going to make a hill-of-beans of difference whether or not I brake the bike in such a precise way as to keep myself from hitting them too hard, or the wrong one, front or back, and executing a perfectly painful head and body plant on the asphalt).
Said another way – a distinction is the difference in value of a characteristic or property that makes an actual or realized difference in anticipated outcome.
To progress quickly in whatever endeavor you’ve undertaken, it’s imperative that you are intentionally, and continuously looking for, and making distinctions. You must keep asking yourself, “What would make things work better, easier, more efficiently, give me a better experience or generate a better outcome?” And, you keep searching for the answers, drilling down further and further, to finer grained details that will make improvements to what you are doing.
Today, was all about distinctions. My motorcycle safety class girlfriend, Katie, and I decided to take an adventure together.
I know I’m getting so much more comfortable riding because, even though I’d had an incredibly long 15 hour day yesterday, I was up for a new, 65 mile adventure today!!
I still don’t have habits of preparation in place, so I keep experiencing a lot of “oh, shit” moments that are still eating up a lot of my brain power– for example, I didn’t think to look at the thermometer before getting dressed and then it’s all… “Geez, it’s too HOT out!!” And, back into the house I go, to strip off everything and take of my bottom layer of clothes. Then, I have to suit up all over again. There is clearly temperature based distinctions that I need to make as to what to wear at different temperatures. There may be other distinctions that I have to make regarding how wind and precipitation also impact temperature and clothing choices. The more aware I am of the impact of tiny difference in temperature, rain and wind on my comfort level, and hence the clothing choices I made, the more I’m able to dial in my experience to one that is better and better.
I went and got gas again. I am pleased to find that that is now a comfortable part of my motorcycling activities – I’m happy because this reinforces my belief in my notion that comfort, confidence and competence are built on the backbone of intentional, deliberate repetition of an activity. The connection between competence and confidence is also a distinction that I can use and master to improve my proficiency and my experiences.
I’d plotted out a ride up a new route out of town, one that took us up through winding, forested switchbacks, gave us a peek out over Chattanooga Valley to the east, allowed us quick glance at Lover’s Leap waterfalls pouring off the ledge at Rock City, took us out past Aladdin, Peter Pan and Cinderella Roads, through the darling little town of Fairyland until we reached the Scenic Highway that runs north-south along the spine of Lookout Mountain. I’m not distinguishing between the types of roads I’m comfortable riding and which ones are still a stretch for me. Knowing this adds to not only my comfort, but also allows me to plot out ways to improve.
It was cold and breezy, but the only thing that got cold with the wind was my right hand – I’ve discovered that layering my clothes is important, another distinction I’ve been able to make, so that I can adjust my temperature for riding. Adam tells me that a heated jacket eliminates the need for layers – ahh more choices stemming from that distinction, that there are different ways to tackle how to stay comfortable under different weather conditions. I tuck the idea away so that I can look into that at a later time.
We rode out to the hang gliding jump off point, now overlooking the western side of the mountain, and off towards the Cumberland Plateau. My braided hair keeps getting stuck on the velcro of my jacket – I have to rip my hair off of it often – I see I need to distinguish out different possible approached to hair management, and test them out.
Then, we continued onto the southern entrance of Cloudland Canyon State Park, just over the Tennessee line, into Georgia. We took in the view of the valley from up above, then made our way down the hundreds of steps to take in all the spectacular waterfalls plunging down below.
I’m finding that each new attempt at an activity builds on previous attempts, often quickly. Because I had gone hiking before, and knew what didn’t work the last time, I could test out new things, incrementally, make those new distinctions, with the intent of making the experience a better one – eg leaving my helmet attached to the bike was something I’d already figured out and was nailed down; I know that I can hike moderate distances in my riding pants, so all good there. I know that the next time I buy riding pants that I’ll want to get ones with more of a leg zipper, so I can take them off and leave them on my bike to go hoofing it around. I know that I should almost always leave my jacket on my bike, because I’ll always get hot hiking and end up lugging it around through the woods with me. I learned that the boots I bought do actually do double duty for riding and hiking just so long as I’m not taking super long hikes. Discerning one thing after another runs you up the ladder of confidence and competence so blisteringly fast!! Doing it intentionally is like hoping on a rocket ship!!
Smarter-Not-Harder U 