How to supercharge progress, no matter what you're learning

That's a mighty big supercharger you have there...

It's been a longish hiatus. My sincere apologies. Quite a few things have been happening lately, both very good and pretty bad, but let's start off with a bit of good.

Wanted to share with you two clips on my jump roping progression. There are about 15 hours of jump roping between the clips. That may sound like a lot, but it isn't much. Although I am clearly sucking in the first clip, I'm not without experience. I did a fair bit of jump roping earlier, while at the Fairtex Gym (Muay Thai) in Mountain View in 2010. We started off each session with about 9 minutes of it, and I spent a good 6 months training there. But at that time, I didn't have any idea of what I wanted to accomplish with jump roping or a clear vision of how good I wanted to be. Jump roping was just an inconsequential warm-up to combat training. My lack of progress is the natural result of non-deliberative practice.

This time around, things were very different. This simple exercise taught me how important it is to know what you're striving for, with a sharp, self-awareness for where you are in that process. My jump roping inspiration came from some remarkable footage of the great Roberto Duran doing amazing things with a jump rope. I wanted to be like Duran! Without inspiration and a clear goal, simply going through the motions won't get you very far. It's like that saying about reaching mastery with 10,000 hours of practice. Not just any old practice will do. It's in fact 10,000 hours of self-aware, deliberate practice.

So shift your progress into hyperdrive by getting yourself inspired, and deliberately practicing towards the realization of your vision. You'll likely amaze yourself. If you have a similar story to share, please share it with us in the comments section!

Noob jump roping and camera placement

Looking a little more like an actual boxer