Like many of my readers, I have just finished the personal challenge of doing the five week CrossFit Open 2015.
Judging from the traffic on various internet forums, I am not the only one who’s mind was totally pre-occupied with the weekly workouts, weaknesses and strengths, decisions of Rx or Scaled, and of course where you might be positioned on the leaderboard in any given week.
Now the Open is history, we will watch friends move onto the Masters Qualifiers and the Regionals. But for most of us it’s back to the same old, same old. Our routine may be a welcome relief from the rush of the Open.
One of my routines that I cherish is my mid-day visit to a local coffee shop. I do this whether I am at home, work or the gym. I like to write, read or converse in this environment. I thrive on the sights, the sounds and the smells.
When I am at work, I drive past Walden Pond to grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks in Concord. Usually, since I need to get back to work, I grab my coffee and sit briefly to relax, before going back to my world of Ones and Zeroes in IT.
This week, I have had the pleasure of conversing with a gentleman who captured my imagination six months ago. He is an actor, named Steve, who performs several one-man plays in the Boston area.
Yesterday he mentioned he was doing a performance of Shakespeare at the Concord Library in a couple weeks. I was disappointed that I had plans and I couldn’t make it. He offered a private showing and immediately stood up in the shop and performed the two minute introduction of his play, a piece crafted by Bernard Levin.
Today, I ran into him again, and we had an opportunity to discuss memorization skills. This subject fascinates me, because it is like a gymnasium for the mind. It’s like weight training between your ears.
I have been developing some memorization skills in recent months, but I find that once the challenge has been met, I break the habit and I forget what I had memorized. Not unlike skipping the gym for a month. Steve mentioned the need to constantly review your previous material. Use it or Lose it. He uses his driving time as an opportunity to exercise his memory by reviewing old material.
I believe it is essential to keep your mind engaged, especially in these times of attention deficits caused by our mind-numbing addiction to internet content consumption. Okay, maybe that’s not you, but it sure is me.
Memorization is also an excellent way to draw yourself into the habit of embracing the present. It requires minimum distraction, focus and repetition. Think of it as the Deadlift of Your Mind. Do you even lift, Bro?
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