Don't Skip the Nooks and Crannies!

I flew to Annapolis to visit my mom for the weekend and it was the exact dose of rejuvenating family time that I needed. Most of the weekend was spent having one-on-one long talks with her, one of which was during our traditional post-dinner walks. When I was younger, we used to have these nightly. We share the quirk of feeling most comfortable and ourselves when moving and active, so these walks always invited the open and deep conversations that were otherwise rare. Resurfacing that tradition this weekend reminded me of my mom’s eccentric walking habits. Number 1, she walks like a madwoman being chased by wolves (I know where my compulsory endorphin addiction comes from) and number 2, when walking cul-de-sacs and corners, she unfailingly walks right up to every edge exclaiming, “Don’t skip the nooks and crannies!” When I was younger, this was an annoyance that yielded an eye-roll and reluctant running to catch up after I tried to turn around too soon. Now, I realize what an important metaphor for life it was and still is.

It’s easy to short yourself here and there, to metaphorically cut corners. At the time, it seems like it has a minuscule impact but over time, the repeated inch-long shorts accumulate to miles lost.

I like to think my stubborn young mind unconsciously internalized this lesson and applied it to my life and career. I hold myself to a certain standard, and this applies to the big things as well as the minute details, nooks and crannies as mama Harrison calls them. No one is watching my mom walk making sure she hits the corners, she does it for herself. She probably did it one day and from then on that was her standard. Be your own competitor. Have high standards and requirements for yourself, reach them, and only allow yourself to go up from there. One short becomes two becomes many, and just like that your standards are lowered and you lose against yourself.

Dannyism #1: Consistency is the Enemy

Every Tuesday and Thursday at 6 am, I peel myself out of bed, down a keto coffee, and jog down my hill to Equinox for the most intense spinning class I’ve ever experienced. Or more accurately, the most intense WORKOUT that’s concentrated into 45 minutes. My boy Danny is a hardcore 30-something, 5 ft 6 powerhouse who has taught this unique class for over 10 years and has completed over 50 Ironmans for which he minimally prepares for in his spare time. He’s quite a force to start my day with. On top of the blast of endorphins I get from his class, he fills our minute rests between sets with stories and motivational affirmations I call Dannyism’s. One from last week that I deemed worth sharing: Consistency is the Enemy. 

Let’s look at what he means by that from a spinning perspective and then talk about how it applies to nearly everything. I always avoided spinning because the thought of sitting in one spot turning petals around at the same speed for 45 minutes sounds like the active version of watching grass grow. But what keeps me going back to this class is change. We go hard then stop. We stand up then sit down. We increase resistance then decrease resistance. Change is a constant in his class. Not only does it make time go by faster, I get much more out of the class. My net power far surpasses a steady state class. My mind is activated, ready and counting down for the next change. With each change, I forget how the previous state felt and I start anew. We all know that much of our performance is driven by mindset. The switch of activity tricks the mind into thinking it’s starting fresh, much more stimulating than “19 minutes down of this, 26 to go”. 

Consistency yields complacency. It impedes growth. Too much consistency breeds ingrained thinking patterns and habits that allow for autopilot functioning. Autopilot functioning is easy and therefore boring, it causes a lack of stimulation that will reduce what I call your frequency. Frequency is the value you unleash into the world that can be transferred to others around you. Stimulation yields frequency if leveraged correctly. It comes from the new, the uncomfortable, the unfamiliar. Seek out change-->get more stimulation-->increase your frequency.

Start small, take a new route to work. Look at behaviors in your life that have been around for a while and aren’t adding value. Join a new meetup. Reach out to the budding acquaintance to hang instead of your usual crew. Call your clients instead of email. Try a new workout routine. Wake up an hour earlier. These switches might be uncomfortable at first, which brings me to one of my go-to quotes from James Hillman: “Anytime you’re gonna grow, you’re gonna lose something. You’re losing what you’re hanging onto to keep safe. You’re losing habits that you’re comfortable with, you’re losing familiarity.”