Use it or Lose it!

Happy Friday Friends,

Most of us learn new skills throughout our lives. We start new careers, pick up new hobbies or simply read books about a topic we’re interested in. In my opinion, that is what life is really all about - collecting as many experiences and skills as you can in the very short time we have on this rock.

The thing is though, we change all the time. We don’t do the same things we did when we were in school, university or the first few years of our careers. So what happens to our skills? I played football (soccer) since I was 4 years old until I was in my 30’s. I wasn’t one of those people who could juggle the ball endlessly. But, I could keep it up for a decent amount of time, especially if I was playing with someone else.

Last week I took a football to the park to kick around with my dog, Ziggy. While he was running off chasing swallows as if his life depended on it. I tried juggling the ball. I couldn’t get more than 3 in a row. For 15 minutes I tried and tried until I got so frustrated I whistled to Ziggy and we walked home. I grumbled to myself the whole way - useless human!It made me realise that the skills we learn are like muscles. Use them or lose them.

“Use it or lose it” applies to almost everything in our lives. If we don’t practise skills or use the traits we have they’ll get rusty.If you don’t actively recall information, you’ll forget it.If you don’t strength train, your muscles will get weaker.If you don’t maintain relationships, you’ll drift apart.

Life is a constant juggling act. We can’t have too many balls up in the air at once but some balls will stay up longer than others. And, some are ok to drop from time to time and pick up again later.

In life, everything sits in one of the following three buckets; growing, being actively maintained, slowly decaying.

GrowthGrowing, for me is the most fun. It’s a time when you’re learning, trying new things and making mistakes - it’s the most exciting. 

I am currently growing my consultancy and building a new website for it. I will update everyone on this in early ‘24. Unfortunately, you can’t stay in this state for too long. You need to progress to where you can move things along to the maintenance stage. Growth takes up the most amount of your energy and brain space so although it’s important, you can only maintain it for a certain length of time. And, you can’t grow too many things at once. Focus is important here, spread yourself too thin and you won’t get anywhere.

Active MaintenanceYou can have quite a few balls hovering in this stage. But, you want to apply the 20:80 rule to everything floating here. You spend 20% of your time to get an 80% return on that time. Especially if you’re juggling a few balls at once. 

A great example I can use for this stage is my bonsai hobby. Yes, for those who haven’t been reading long enough, I’m a bonsai tree nerd. There are many lessons growing bonsai is teaching me but that’s a story I’ll save for another time.

I am by no means done learning how to grow bonsai, not even close. Because bonsai is a hobby it means I can shift it out of Grow to Maintenance when there are other more important things that need my focus.

Slow DecayThink of this as balls that are about to fall out of the juggling circle. On their way down you still have knowledge of them but, once they hit the floor you can’t bend down and pick them up without dropping others.

Sometimes we drop balls because we get bored and need to move on. And, sometimes we drop balls because we can’t possibly deal with them anymore. It is frustrating and sometimes you will get angry with yourself. 

I’m here to tell you it’s ok to drop balls, all the time. You are doing it anyway as you grow and as you age.

For me, dropped balls always seem to happen the most in the fitness part of my life. I trained in CrossFit for many years. I also did Olympic lifting and callisthenics. I have a deep love for bodybuilding and strength. And, most recently I am excited about functional training with kettlebells, maces and clubs. In 2024 I need to start improving my mobility and flexibility.That sounds like a lot right? And it is! 

It kills me that I can’t do everything. It kills me that I can’t even do half of them. But, I’ve learned if I try and fit it all in then I end up being below average for everything.So, I have to choose which balls to drop. I will need to assess where I am in my life and what are the goals I want to achieve. Then, I can choose which fitness balls to start juggling to help me get there.

It’s important to remember that I can come back to any balls I like. I can work in seasons and I do. In winter I can focus on strength and building muscle and in summer I can swap in running and high-intensity functional training. That is an intentional ball drop.

As I said before, you can only have so many balls in the air at once. Be intentional and strategic about what balls you’re juggling and which stage they’re in.

I would like you to try a little exercise in the next few days while this post is still fresh.On a page (digital or physical) write a full list of all the things you want to focus on for the early part of 2024. Hobbies, personal growth, relationships and business.

Now, draw three columns; growing, maintenance, decay and split your points into which stage you think they are in now.Then, being honest with yourself and with the knowledge I’ve shared with you, shift them into the stages they should be in.

This is how you should move forward in 2024. You can even assess these every quarter or just keep the juggling fluid.

Before we sign off, there are 2 very important factors to remember.

• Don’t convince yourself that things are permanent

• Figure out how often to maintain the things that matter

If you need any help, drop me a DM.

Peace, love and muscles.Jazza