Lifehacks for the Mind | Part 3: "Mileage Over Results"

For the longest time I had carried the assumption that the mind would be my best tool for helping me achieve my dreams and ambitions. I had always used it in that way, and by the time I turned 20 I had gotten quite used to approaching any and every aspect of my life through the mind and pure rational thought.

Logic and concepts had always been my main tools for advancing through life in this way.

When I felt I didn't understand something I would research until I understood. When I was missing something, I scoured the internet to help me find it. When I felt bad, I looked for some conceptual strategy to make me feel better.

And though my mind had carried me far in theory... when it came to practical achievements I had largely barked up the wrong tree.

Aimlessly looking for the secret

For certain disciplines of thought this conceptual approach seemed to work well - say for learning about history, the economic system, geography and so forth.

However I quickly found that my mind-approach did not help me much in actualizing the large visions I had for my future.

I could imagine going on tour with my first psy album, but for the most part that did not take the pain away of pushing through the process to get there. On the contrary - it made it worse.

It led me to focus more and more on how painfully steep the learning curve seemed, and how difficult it would be to ever catch up to those who have started making electronic music in their early youth. And more reasons would come and pile up until I was scared to even open my music program. Scared of sorting through the amateurish mess I had made, to somehow turn that into actual enjoyable music.

Afraid of more pain.

I almost crashed and burned with my music because of the discrepancy between my energetic investment of the approach vs. the quality of results I got back. I would accumulate all sorts of hacks and tricks, hints and strategies, methods and knowledge to help me through the beginner stadiums of learning something that seemed unexpectedly difficult - like learning all the complexities of these new tools I was dabbling with to somehow be able to make an album one day.

And of course, these sorts of thoughts didn't help me at all in getting my new track done and appreciate it for what it was. Instead I would constantly compare my frantic efforts to the pros, and despair at the level of difference.

A total dead end of the mind.

And eventually it can turn into the default view for approaching anything in life. And make even the greatest successes seem irrelevant and futile.

"If only I had a magic pill, everything would be fine"

Here I was, totally overloading myself with "essential information" on sound synthesis, equalizers and compression - things that may be important one day, but not when starting out. And the more I focussed on these less relevant topics at the beginning the more I would think I would never be able to do this at all. Not having released a single track in all the months of tweaking and tinkering really hit me hard whenever I thought of it.

About the only mind-approach that helped me in those times was the phrase "blood, sweat and tears" that sucessful artists would use when they talk about the painstaking process of creating an album that could stand the test of time. Knowing the pros went through the same pain made me feel a little better but it was far from enough to take it easy and go about my passion in a lighthearted and life-affirming way.

I needed something better.

A surfer's lesson

When I grew up, I was into windsurfing - much like the rest of my family - and one day I came upon a most essential lesson that wouldn't really hit me until years later - well, until I found myself in the situation of despairing at my slow rate of progress and realizing that THIS can't be the way I should approach my passions any longer. I realized it would not only cost me my health if I went on in this way, it might also cost me my passion altogether.

The rescuing idea came in the form of an article in "Surf" - a surfer's magazine my dad was reading when I was a kid. It was an interview with windsurfing world champion Robby Naish and it contained some mindshatteringly simple lessons that I seemed to have completely forgotten about within the mess of my mind until I was reminded, in my twenties.

The memory of that story hit me out of the blue one day after hearing it worded similarly by someone else online, and a million lightbulbs went off. It was the ultimate permission by someone who I thought would necessarily have to know what he is talking about - a world champion at what he does.

Robby Naish was asked:
"So, how did you become a world champion in windsurfing? Any advice for the newcomers out there?"

And Naish would simply answer:
"Time on water."

"Time on water"

The answer was as short as it was enlightening.
Of course!

Even as a kid I could instantly grasp what he was saying. "Time on water" was piercing through the bullshit tales I had allowed myself to become a victim of. "Talent", "education", "knowledge" - all these factors became almost irrelevant when I remembered Naish at my low point.

Yes, I did know my tools in theory now, and yes, I knew what I needed to know to make that sound happen eventually. Which still seemed important.

But, I finally had the motivation to consider seeing my problem in a completely different way:

Instead of overthinking and overanalyzing my slow rate of progress and all the things I would need to grasp for this to ever work out, here was someone telling me that the only thing that really matters is your time invested.

That is all!
Everything else would simply follow, I knew that somehow. And I trusted it.

This simple view has turned out to be more relevant to my life than most other lessons I have collected, and I have collected many.

It bypasses the overuse of the mind in a most pleasurable way while still giving it something to "get hung up about". It seems to support the exact opposite of self-imposed pressures for achievement.

And by that, it will help you achieve anything you ever wanted - almost as a side effect - because the "golden goodie" at the end of your path will cease to be your incentive. Instead, constantly moving forward in tiny increments will become the real reward on your journey. And your mind will accept it.

It has been often said that anyone can become a pro at anything, if he is able to invest 10,000 hours of practice - as stated in the book "Outliers" for example. While this information may certainly add to one's despair, it could also be the academic support many people seem to need to accept the validity of a new concept. So I'm mentioning it here for what it's worth ;)

Having a bad day? No worries now.

Don't try anything grand, just do the thing!

When I sat in front of my half-finished amateurish psytrance track again, everything was different. I was still faced with this gigantic task of finishing it somehow, but instead of despairing about it I simply started working in an easy and efficient manner, not "caring" too much, but being quick on my feet and detached.

The only attachment was my time investment. And the realization that any time invested would by definition get me closer to achieving my dreams.

I realized without guilt that I did not yet spend enough "time on water" or rather "time in music production software" to be the success I wanted to be, and my mind instantly stopped nagging, complaining and self-judging when that realization came.

The mind seemed pacified with that idea.

It simply shut up, moved out of the way and allowed me to work on the thing instead of battering myself. And eventually I would periodically start catching myself advancing. <3

I smiled, then turned my focus quickly off the emerging results again, and back unto gathering even more mileage.

To me "mileage" describes what Naish meant with "time on water" and anybody who drives a car can relate instantly. It implies distance, time spent, persistency, step by step progression.

Only, your mileage makes you better, and not rustier like your car. We are more like a fine wine in that regard than an old automobile.

Because I noticed how warm and supportive this mindset change was to me I had made it my goal to become absolutely obsessed with mileage and - all visions and aspirations aside - simply spend more time doing the thing, and less time thinking about it.

I quickly noticed how the mileage-focus gave me much more 'fire under my ass' as we say in German. Suddenly the obstacles I encountered didn't cost me emotional investment anymore - no matter what I was working on. And I was thrilled to discover, that this approach would even work on generally bad days.

"When all else fails today, no problem! You can still spend some time making sounds, and even delete them all afterwards if they suck - doesn't matter. Mileage is mileage."

It turned into this ultimate permission slip to dare to do the thing and remain emotionally detached about it at the same time, which can sometimes be hard with our passions because they affect us on a heart level.

I had realized that mileage was something that grew internally all by itself and that nobody would ever be able to take away from me again - not even my own relentless mind on a depressive, grey winter day.

So before you head off to self-battering land when you feel you missed the mark, or you are not good enough, or you fail in comparison to others - pause for a moment and realize that everybody who is a pro once started out as an amateur.

As long as you do something to gather mileage for what you want to do, you are a success!

Good results are overrated

We have sayings like "practice makes perfect". In German we say "practice makes a master" ("Übung macht den Meister"). But these don't really carry the same significance as mileage and time on water do for me.

I realized, it never was about perfection or mastery!

It was about finding a way within this result-obsessed instant-gratification society of ours to cultivate the mindset of success and perseverance. A mindset to support your efforts even when the results are nowhere near in sight yet.

And by focussing on your mileage you can go much further for much longer, and smile when you are faced with a new obstacle.

Not because it's gonna be easy. Not because you're ready. But because you couldn't have ever gotten here without the mileage you have already successfully accumulated.

Mileage is success!
There is no need to be in your own way - unless you really want to be.

_{Image sources:
unsplash.com
commons.wikipedia.org
unsplash.com
commons.wikipedia.org
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publicdomainpictures.net
pinterest.com}

_{Read other parts of this series:
Lifehacks for the Mind | Part 1: "Permission Slips"
Lifehacks for the Mind | Part 2: "Handling Adversity & Multiplying Prosperity"}

_{Additional resources:
Outliers: The Story of Success}

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