Finer and Finer Distinctions

My wife and I take a yoga class together every week on Wednesdays. It is a ritual that we have that allows us to do something together while keeping fit and helping us to relax and come back to our core. Now, that doesn’t always work. Like yesterday. I had been such a jerk to her that it affected our class. I am like that you know, sometimes I go over the line and wish afterward that I had done or said something differently. I am human.

But that is not the subject of this post. I want to talk about how small (sometimes extremely small) distinctions can make all the difference in the world.

In yoga, distinctions are everything. It is not just about holding a pose or getting yourself wrapped up like a pretzel. It comes down to very minute angles, pressures and areas of concentration that make all the difference in the world. For instance, yesterday we were in a pose with our hands on the ground in front of us. I was up on my finger tips during the pose when the instructor came over to me and had me switch my hands so my palms were on the floor, with my finger tips raised into the air.

To demonstrate the difference, put your hands on your desk right now with only your finger tips touching the surface. Good. Now, lower your palms to the desk and raise your finger tips so they are not touching the desk at all. See the difference? In comparison to the entire pose, a minor piece of the puzzle. But important nontheless. That one shift changed the dynamics of the entire exercise. It fire up different muscles that I had not been using. It changed the way my hands, arms, shoulders, chest, hips, legs and feet all worked together. Amazing.

The same is true for most any sport. Think about the tiny, tiny variations between my golf swing and Tiger Woods’ swing. We both have a club. We both rotate our hips to bring the club behind our heads, then reverse the rotation to swing the club down and forward toward the ball and finally end up with the club behind our backs. Basically the same thing.

But because of tiny, tiny variations in grip, hip rotation, arm position, head position, shoulders, legs, feet, back, speed, force, angle and direction, Tiger makes $200 million a year and I don’t.

The same goes for football, basketball, baseball, billiards, bowling, archery, track and field, etc, etc, etc. Hell, the difference between the good and the great is often microseconds, or millimetres.

The same goes for business. The difference between a business that is wildly successful and a competitor that fails is typically something extremely small. Timing, location, a key decision, perception, a single meeting, one connection, a hunch.

When I was training with one of the premier athletic training facilities in the Southwest US, the time and effort it took me to get 95% of the way to my goal was drastically eclipsed by the amount of time and energy it took me to achieve that last 5%. Finer distinctions in weight, tempo, reps, sets, nutrition and supplements were what got me to my goal.

By the way, you can see the entire 12 week process on YouTube. Go here to watch – http://www.youtube.com/user/IkeiUnderground#play/user/BA60F937B0D2F965. The videos are in the right-hand column.

So, my point in all of this is that the difference between success and failure or between good and great, are often the finest of distinctions. Keep refining. Keep testing. Keep trying. That is how the masters perfect their trade.