Sometimes, what we envision for ourselves is not always the reality that comes to pass.

Time often makes fools of us all, sadly…

We’ve been diving into some interesting introspective places in the Words of Wisdom series recently, and as I self-reflect upon them, I think one beautiful aspect of where we start on our journey of personal growth is this golden ideal that helps drive us all, and it is the quiet acknowledgement that we aren’t perfect, and that’s okay. Even though the title of this entry into the annals of Words of Wisdom includes the idea of perfection, it’s more of a metaphysical target to aim for, as intentionality is key in shooting for a proper target in what we aim for as our intended bullseye.

In this regard, my assertion has a sense of playful ambition about it; the notion of reaching this state regularly associated with a fictionalized self, becoming a larger than life being the likes of which usually inspires us mere mortals at being something more; a hero, a myth, a legend, one who hangs loose with the immortals, that I think, when taken with an appropriate grain of salt of humility and a dash of humor, is both an admirable aim and a humble ego boost of who we can strive to be, even if it is an eternal and ever lasting process.

I think a good phrase to keep in mind for today’s focus is one I’ve heard paraphrased a few different ways in my time, vicariously through many different recitations, but they all hold the same wisdom; we practice a thousand times so that we always get it right, and then we practice a thousand times more after that so that it’s impossible to get it wrong. This kind of notion obviously works best within a more practical space of successful boundaries, like an act of physical exertion or a sport of some kind, even if that sport be of a virtual persuasion (one has to be quite “limber” and well trained for videogame speedrunning, after all), but this kind of mentality can be applied to both the physical and metaphysical of the everyday, and it certainly can make a difference, even when the goal isn’t winning a competition or achieving a trophy of some literal kind.

I’m getting ahead of myself a bit here, within a whirlwind of conceptual excitement, I suppose I should mention for those unaware, the word “praxis” is defined as essentially a process, in a sense. Kind of a much fancier word for practice, in an extraordinarily simplified manner of speaking, but there’s usually a lot more theory invovled, a hefty emphasis on conceptualization, perceptual analysis, and deconstruction based development going on behind the scenes (i.e. your brain) that makes the process more focused (and/or) with a better starting point of theoretical goal orientation in mind. There’s a rich history of praxis used in philosophy throughout the ages, going all the way back to Plato, with more modern day glow ups of note involving marxism, that has helped to keep the notion of praxis alive in the machinations of many worthy individuals looking for a better sense of self-improvement through theory, our understanding of the world, and how to enact change, so the number of minds and ways this idea can help is nearly limitless due to its malleability and diverse number of manners of application involved.

With that in mind, and as our main focus of the day, we take a broad concept like praxis, and we start with a simple realization, even beyond sporting events and hardcore competitive exertions, we can apply praxis to everyday matters and routine of all kinds and sorts, all it takes is the ability to understand what you want to accomplish, and then go for it. Now, apart of what I will be describing will be broad strokes, as the idea of praxis is multifarious and is extremely versatile in how many facets it has to it, which is why in its vaguest sense of applicability, it remains all encompassing. However, the flipside to this is that you will need to fill in your own blanks, when translating it into your own field of need and desire.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind about praxis, is to not overthink it. I’ve done enough thinking in my day to have gleamed a valuable insight: when to stop thinking. This tendency of over-analyzation leads to paralysis, and then anxiety, and then kind of a withdrawing, due to making the thought this big bad thing, that scares you out of the courage of even committing to said act. Avoid this at all costs, as the idea of praxis, the big one, is that one must do, not just think. The follow up of doing the thing, whatever it is, needs to happen after the conception of the thinking, or else the praxis can never be enacted.

As I said, depending on the context of what one desires to put to the realistic test varies greatly. If it is something more straight forward to do within the realm of sports or competition: easy; do the thing to death. Do you want to score more three pointers in basketball? Then make that your focus, and get out onto the court, and start with one simple routine that you do over and over and over again. Simplify to just one place on the court, one motion, same context, easily repeatable, over and over again. Practice it to death. Once you have it down where messing it up almost seems impossible, then build upon that with another followup in a similar way, go from there. Obviously, in the land of video games, this is similar. Wanting to set a high score or set a new time for speedrunning? Start by just doing a full run; play the damn game for a bit, get warmed up, comfy in your zone. Once you start doing full runs, breakdown your weak spots. Pick one of them you know needs refinement, commit yourself to replaying that bit over and over again, till it comes as naturally to you as breathing, rinse and repeat.

Obviously, for more metaphysical equations and social situations, praxis gets a little more difficult in terms of engineering, but the key idea is to work with what you have, and practice within the confines of the space or ability to do so. Do you want to perfect public speaking? Watch some of your favorite orators, take note on the cadence of their voice, the wordplay they use, the emotionality they put forth, the concepts they utilize, their relatability and humanity employed to connect with people. Maybe, just like a band may do a cover of a song they like, practice some of that speakers own phrase, words, deliveries etc to try them on for size, to get an idea of how they speak, and what you may use and borrow from that which may work for your own style. No better way of honing a craft then taking tips from those have succeeded within the realm, and then doing your best impression of them, pretending to be the success you eventually want to be, by trying it on for size. All of this will eventually see you wearing the facade as your very own aesthetic, the very same one that you will eventually end up wearing with confident pride; as long as you stick with a consistent routine, and do it, do it, do it! Until you can’t do it anymore….until you rest up a bit and then get back to doing it all over again.

There are obviously too many examples to dive into, but one important aspect of this remains true: after the thinking, there must be the doing. Without the execution of the theory, the whole idea of praxis is totally self-negated, and your theory transpires into nothingness, as there is no action with which to see the thought through in enacting it, to see it finally realized by your own hands and sense of self. Don’t be worried about optimization, don’t psyche yourself our that it won’t start out as ideal, and don’t complicate things by spending too much time on the deliberation aspect of this activity. The ratio of thought to action in practice ideally is very likely 10:1, the lions share of the time spent will be on the doing. That doesn’t mean the thinking bit doesn’t matter, but without willing it into existence after the fact, it remains nothing but a desire of your imagination, and nothing more. Bring the dream to life- which starts by living it, one day at a time.

As always, take care of yourself, and others.

-Pashford