Stretching is useless.
But being stretched really matters.
Do you ever stretch?
I remember rugby practice at school, we used to stretch a lot. From grade 8 to first-team rugby, we would stand in a circle around the captain or coach and they would guide us through a 15-minute body stretch. We were taught that stretching is good for your muscles and prevents injury.
When we stretch before we exercise we think we’re loosening up the muscles to prepare them for what’s coming. We’re wrong. The science just doesn’t support the theory that stretching prevents injury.
A doctor recently told me that our muscles can only extend as far as they can extend. We think that we’re stretching our muscles before we start our exercise, but we’re not.
WE ARE STRETCHING OUR BRAINS!
When we stretch and then repeat the stretches day after day to increase how limber we are, what we’re actually doing is teaching our brains the existing limits of our muscles. We’re not increasing our muscles limberness. It’s our brains that are holding us back. Our brains think that our muscles are going to snap if we don’t consistently stretch them.
Of course, there are exceptions that prove the rule. If you are doing an activity like gymnastics or ballet that requires specific types of flexibility (like doing the splits) stretching probably won’t enhance your performance either
What else is my brain restricting? Was I actually like the main character in the film Limitless? Could it be possible that a single change could unlock my brain’s full potential?
Of course, I had to stop writing this newsletter immediately and watched Limitless for further research.
The main character takes a pill that unlocks his the full potential of his brain. It turns him into a genius in every aspect of his life with obvious Hollywood side effects.
I don’t think there is a pill that does this yet (cocaine users might claim this as a side effect of their drug use) but I do think that there is something that we can do to train our brains to embrace crazy limits.
Could it be self-belief? The love of a decent person? Parental guidance? None or all of these? Maybe.
But I think it all starts with curiosity.
Curiosity is your gateway drug to realising the impossible. The more curious you are about something the more you’re going to realise you don’t know and should know. If you believe something with all your might then you should be curious about it, you should challenge what you know about it and you should push the boundaries of what you accept as normal.
Stretching your muscles, stretching your acceptance of ideals and stretching your fundamental beliefs all involve pushing yourself to the limit of what you once held sacred. There is nothing sacred. There are no sacred cows in the world of the curious.
If you truly believe something then the only way to continue to believe it is to challenge it. You thought that stretching was helping you but it isn’t.
What else should you be challenging?
—
Nic
Do the work. Start something today.
PONDER THIS QUOTE
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
― Pablo Picasso
CONSIDER THIS COGNITIVE BIAS
Shared information bias (also known as the collective information sampling bias, or common-information bias) is known as the tendency for group members to spend more time and energy discussing information that all members are already familiar with (i.e., shared information), and less time and energy discussing information that only some members are aware of (i.e., unshared information).
MISCONCEPTIONS DEBUNKED
The Great Wall of China is not, as is claimed, the only human-made object visible from space or from the Moon. None of the Apollo astronauts reported seeing any specific human-made object from the Moon, and even Earth-orbiting astronauts can see it only with magnification. City lights, however, are easily visible on the night side of Earth from orbit.
THE SLOW FUND
Help me start thousands of small businesses
As you’ll see below, my new book, How to Start a Side Hustle, is coming out very soon. Alongside the book, last week I announced the launch of the SLOW FUND. An initiative that will be giving away R1000 every day to someone with a side hustle idea.
That’s R365 000 every day for 365 days to help start at least 365 businesses.
Everyone talks about small business being important. Everyone believes in the idea of small businesses but not many people are doing something to help grow small businesses in South Africa.
I am.
I’ve launched this fund to kickstart thousands of side hustles and I need your help. Click the button above to contribute to the fund. If you work at a company that can afford to contribute, please lobby them to join in.
Thank you!
PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK
My new book will be in stores in South Africa around mid-February but you can pre-order it right now:
Buy from Loot - https://www.loot.co.za/product/nic-haralambous-how-to-start-a-side-hustle/kkhx-7135-g720
Buy from TakeaLot: https://www.takealot.com/how-to-start-a-side-hustle/PLID71425658
It will also be available worldwide on Amazon very soon!