I don’t know about your parents but those playing the part of my mother and father were extremely strict in the way of utilizing each and every effort or having such a gift and or talent would be lost forever. They constantly drilled their warnings into us, “If you don’t use it, you’re going to lose it?”
How true can this be?
It’s the new millennium! We live in the land of opportunity where it’s completely impossible to put focus on a single object longer than 3.2 seconds. To frighten kids and coworkers into believing they’re about to lose the single most important object that makes them unique and great is totally outrageous.
And then I bumped into Chapel Hill’s Dr. Martin Groder who coauthored the book Business Games; How to Recognize the Players and Deal with Them, “The longer you neglect your talents and special skills the harder it is to restore them and its less likely you’ll be able to bring them back to a level of accepted excellence.”
No wonder Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards! Since announcing to the world that he’s replacing Michael Jackson as the New King of Pop the ego alone can’t drive the message home—every move the singer/songwriter is making seems to be an attempt to do nothing more than keep his name in the headlines. If you aren’t pop lock and dropping the tunes into Ipods and cd players it’s time to pull of a classic Lindsey Lohan and nab whatever you can.
Madonna is the master of re-invention...having no fear of whatever headlines are written. Just spell her name correctly.
If you're creative…you must use it. If you build incredibly cool, fully air conditioned with bright orange shag carpeting dog houses for a hobby…use it or lose it. From truck drivers who can soar across our nations long and lost highways without having to pop pills or swig down cases of power drinks to engine builders who dream of manning a racing team for NASCAR…use it or lose it. Nurses who went to school to nurse and not file reports…use it or lose it. A student chef who doesn’t try out new ideas on guests at home is going to lose if they don’t use it.
Why is this possible? Blame it solely on the decline of strength and stamina—slowing down invites your body to release what sports people love calling “The Zone.” Training your body to slow down naturally prepares your system to no longer expect giant bolts of lightning to come streaking down from the sky. Everything you do is nothing more than a response from complex interactions of nerve cells in the brain.
When you practice microscopic filaments are connected to another—when you disconnect, it’s like letting the battery go dry in your cell phone, laptop or child’s favorite toy. Welcome to the world of Brain Drain.
The very second you stop challenging yourself and expanding your skills a very important section of the thinker (the brain) shifts into humdrum mode. Reactivating that monster will resemble a southerner who relocated to Montana where they’re being forced to brave their first 42 below zero morning—if you didn’t plug in the head bolt heater on the car…you aren’t going far. Listen to Duran Duran’s The Reflex…that I, I, I, I they sing is nothing more than an untrained newly born Montanan trying to make it to work someday, any day…please give me spring!
I pulled off an uneducated stunt recently that’s set me back years—since 1997 being art filled and expressive has flowed from my brushes and acrylics like a Midwestern spring flood, then one day I convinced the hard headed self to stop…for no reason than to test the waters of distance makes the heart grow fonder. Nope…desire to paint sits way over yonder.
People do this everyday! For just a few moments you rest, gotta take a break, man it would feel incredible to step away and breathe only to learn when you get back…the fires that once torched your bottom no longer exist. That’s why it became my mandatory mission to convince the heart doctor to put me on a path of getting back to living. I upset them deeply in one on one meeting’s because it was extremely important that I return to Tae Kwon Do. I know this mind, body and soul and there’s too much cool stuff to do in the world like mastering The Beatles Rock Band Video game. If you aren’t using it…you’re losing it.
Small efforts win everyday! During our busy chapters we can barely find enough time to use the restroom—how can anyone expect you to become better at something you love. There’s no written or commanded universal rule when it comes to practicing. If having a better shaped body is your fantasy, take a five minute walk. Sketchers have a new shoe available that works your muscles better than an overpriced monthly gym.
Accept you’re your role as a student. What’s the one thing all black belts in martial arts have in common? They never stop thinking like a white belt—every day you enter the school you allow yourself to learn something new.
Don’t match your performance with memories. Stop comparing your results to last nights dream. Once you’ve attained an inch of success, teach it. The best students in the world are teachers. Having the opportunity to share the concept you’ve grown with does something your boss can never figure out…it sharpens your people skills, making you a trusted leader.
If you don’t use it…you lose it. That’s why I write everyday. What are you doing with the rest of your life?
Steal my art…
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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