This is why I'm anxious to get to softball practice every week-- because I've spent time at home focusing on my own techniques, comparing with pros, watching youtube videos, trying things out. Eventually, I'm just ready to see if I'm more successful in a game-like environment. Some others also exhibit this constant series of small improvements; others seem to have decided that they're "done learning," and now they've stagnated. To my eye, that seems a lot less fun. Maybe I should practice that more in other areas of life.
I think the techniques themselves are less important than the system behind it. One of the books in this trifecta of productivity books is Scott Adams' (the Dilbert guy) book. He makes the point that goals are for losers (as in, you're a loser for a long time until you actually hit that goal), and that you should instead focus on implementing some kind of system that you'll be able to succeed at and improve over time. So instead of saying "I want to lose X pounds", he suggests saying "I will eat healthy/healthier", which is much easier to accomplish and improve upon. There's also a bunch of research that suggests that you will inevitably hit a plateau unless you develop ways to practice with deliberateness. Cal Newport calls it "stretch and destroy": stretch your current abilities to an uncomfortable level and embrace honest feedback, even if it destroys what you thought was good. That's not necessarily fun though, so I would think about what you want to get out of softball. Could be that it just satiates your sporting and socializing needs. There's no need to strive for perfection in everything you do, but I firmly believe it's good to do everything with deliberateness.
That's not necessarily fun though Then I guess I'm just weird :) A more serious explanation: I think there's inherent beauty in doing any thing well, regardless of what that thing is. This is why it's always cool to see people talking about the things they really care about, even if I absolutely don't care about that thing. Passion is cool. Doing things well is cool. Also I hate losing.stretch your current abilities to an uncomfortable level and embrace honest feedback, even if it destroys what you thought was good.
It's satisfying for sure, but it's not fun in the spaß sense of the word. Totally agree. (One of my favourite subreddits is /r/ATBGE.) The perfectionist in me always strives to do things well from the get-go. Which so far has worked wonders, but the downside is that I avoid failure like the plague and thus don't always know how to deal with it.I think there's inherent beauty in doing any thing well, regardless of what that thing is.