61. Game, Set & Match...ing approaches to life

I do this blog for a few reasons. 

Firstly, as a bit of a reflection on some of life’s challenges, and some of the stuff that I’ve learnt along the way. I find it quite a therapeutic thing to do, and for the most part, really enjoy writing it. 

One of the reasons that I put it out into a public domain, as opposed to more of a private journal type thing, is in case some/any of the points resonate with other people as well.   

Of course, whether that intention comes across, or whether it just sounds like I’m trying to give unsolicited/generally substandard life advice is a different story. But hey ho! 

Though there are 2 main reasons why I wouldn’t want it to be intended as specific advice:

1) What on earth do I know!?

2) What may “work” for me, may be completely unhelpful for you. 

The 2nd point, that individual variability, is something that I’ve been thinking about quite a bit recently.

It’s why, although Social Media & the wider internet is full of it, I think any sort of catch-all, mass reaching life advice is almost impossible to provide. 

Of course, in most of the key areas in life there are going to be some overarching principles that probably make sense. For example:

• Finances: Try not to consistently spend more than we have coming in 

• Weight loss: Try not to consistently consume more calories than we burn

• Friendships: Try to acknowledge our pals existence every once in a while

And so on. 

Though the specifics within that that work for each of us individually are going to differ so much from person to person. 

I imagine this is why there’s so much conflicting information out there.

To use a cliche that’s analogously applicable to other areas of life, for some, nuts are a great source of protein, healthy fats and general nutrition. For others, they’re a death sentence. 

Whilst we’re on analogies that can be applicable to wider areas of life, and also because Wimbledon is currently on, let’s have a look at tennis. 

For anyone who likes tennis, or sport in general, the last 20 odd years have been a glorious time. We’ve got to witness the 3 greatest players ever. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. 

And of course, a special shout out to my king, Lord Federer.

Photo credit: France 24

Just look how beautiful he is! How I wish I was that trophy…

Erm anyway, back to the point. 

Author & Journalist Matthew Syed made a lovely observation about how the three different players warmed up. 

“When Nadal warmed up, it was pure aggression. His biceps were bulging. He sprinted up and down like a man possessed. His shirt was dripping in sweat.

When Djokovic warmed up, it was pure emotionless calibration. He was measured and scientific with every shot.

When Federer warmed up, you could hear him giggling before he arrived. He’s doing trick shots, caressing the ball and exploring his own creativity.”

We can make a compelling case for any of them being the single greatest, though they all had completely different approaches to being the best. 

Tell Federer to warm up like Djokovic, and he may find it a borefest and play terribly. On that, in the Federer biography ‘The Master’, a recurrent theme is his extroversion, creativity, and need for different stimuli to keep him motivated.

Er yeah, any excuse for another Federer pic

Conversely, get Djokovic to warm up like Federer and he may not get in the zone, and be undercooked when it comes to game time. 

There’s no right way, only the way that worked specifically for them. 

And how applicable to wider life that can be. 

I’ve been thinking about this in terms of the standard advice that we can read/watch/listen to across various areas of life. Though just because the relevant hack from the relevant guru works for them, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for us. 

For example:

• I like going to the gym, but regularly spending any more than 45 minutes in there would make me find it a ballache. 

• I like writing, but doing it every single day would… well, yeah, ballache again. 

• I like investing, though if I had to constantly monitor the market and regularly buy & sell then… you get the point.

Basically, if I felt like I ‘had’ to do the latter part of each of the above (i.e. what a lot of the gurus in each of those specific areas recommend), I’d probably pack them in. 

Though I’ve been lucky enough to have found a dialled-down approach for each one of those areas that seems to be (currently at least) working in terms of consistently being able to stick at them. 

And I suppose that’s the key point on the whole individual variability thing. Take the recommendations with a pinch of salt, and find what sustainably works for us.

Or at least that seems to work from my side, though appreciate you may find this absolute nonsense… 🙂