Training Limiters

Or just limiters. Or limiter. This is about stubbornness, but first an aside. I've tried to become a better listener over the years. Some people tell me I'm a great listener and others tell me I don't listen at all. Both groups are probably correct. Listening is definitely a skill, which means it can be a strength or a weakness. It can be done well or done poorly by the same person at different times. Listening generally involves not talking. If you think you're smart and you're also a giving person then maybe you want to talk a lot because you feel a need to share your wisdom. Be careful with that. You know the whole thing about how waiting to talk is not listening, right? Worse still is filling in the pauses when you don't know what you're talking about. But that's not the only time to shut your mouth. In fact, getting over the fear that keeping quiet indicates some kind of ignorance is one of the keys to better listening. I used to work for a bunch of Japanese dudes and my boss was always annoyed that Americans couldn't handle pauses, never stopping conversation long enough to think.

So poor listening can be a limiter to something. I'm not sure what. This post isn't about that anyway. It just started out like this because I've been trying to listen, "keep my ear to the ground" as they say, to various athletes and wannabe athletes this winter. What's becoming increasingly apparent to me is that stubbornness is one of the most common athletic limiters. Athletes don't get better because they refuse to, one way or the other. Stubbornness has a couple of definitions, one good and one not so good. If you "stubbornly refuse to give up" then you're persistent and dedicated, traits that are supposed to be good. But if you act "unreasonably or perversely unyielding" in the face of a need to change, that can be bad.

Of course this isn't limited to athletics and training. Look around, watch and listen. Take note of when there exists an obvious need for something to happen, but it does not. How often is the obstacle stubbornness on someones part? Then also try to observe how when stubbornness is removed, stuff happens. I don't think that I need to elaborate too much. My audience is smart enough to figure this out on their own. Just in case you're suspicious, this isn't some kind of cryptic post with hidden meaning or agenda. You can stubbornly refuse to believe that if you like, or you can listen when I tell you it's just rambling bullshit that makes a bit of sense to me at this moment in time. Probably because I've been listening for a change. Thanks for reading.