Where Practice Becomes Mastery

I lived on a farm as a kid, and chores were an everyday thing. Toting hay bales and sacks of grain, building fences, mucking out stalls, chasing escaped livestock, feeding the animals, clearing scotch broom, preparing and planting a garden, and housework. My brothers and I were trained early on to cook, clean, and do laundry. I welcomed the physical labor and learned to appreciate the connection with my body. I liked using my muscles and getting stronger because of it.

I gravitated to athletic movement, too. For example, biking, swimming, running and walking, intramural football, baseball, and pounding on a punching bag I made with gloves I found in the front closet. Then, when I hit the young adult passage, I left the farm chores behind and pursued writing and theatre, combined with a serious commitment to soccer and weight lifting. The athletic focus gave me practice in disciplined, well-documented repetition, a foundational platform I’ve continued to build and expand on all of my life. Finally, when it came time to apply myself to a method of making a living, I opened a gym. My investment in a mix of chore-related and sports-minded movement practice and creative expression paid off in a unique fitness center where people came to learn more about themselves. Documentation became more important than ever, and I adapted a Checklist System to keep detailed notes on Projects, Lesson Plans, Movement Meditation Chores, and Self-awareness assessments. By the time I retired, at age sixty-five, I had accumulated immense content. However, converting practice…