I had the engine and transmission on my LandCruiser tuned today. I wrote about having it done some time ago, which you can read here, and today was the day it happened. I'll write about the actual tune, performance and power gains more specifically on another post although initially I have been really happy with how it went.
When I dropped it off I spent a half hour chatting with the engine tuner, one of the best around, about finding performance and more specifically all the small things he did to seek it out and tune it into my vehicle. He was telling me about the many, many hundreds of hours spent studying technical data, understanding the concepts involved and of course, the years he's spent as a vehicle mechanic and technician. He's an older chap, a little older than myself, and it was really interesting to see the excitement he showed about finding those small gains here and there and applying them collectively towards the attainment of better performance.
One hundred percent
It led me to think about how a person who seeks continual self-improvement gains by doing exactly the same thing, and whilst we can't plug ourselves into a computer and tune ourselves, that doesn't mean we can't find many small gains as we go through life, the thoughts and attitudes that lead us towards better skills which ultimately lead us towards greater results, achievements, successes or outcomes. It's not dissimilar to the chap tuning my engine and transmission.
I've spent my life doing that myself, across many different aspects of my life, and know many others who have done the same. I've gone about it in a rather relentless fashion to be honest and, whilst others have pushed me towards improvement, *none could ever drive me harder than I do myself.
At times I've taken it too far of course and it's not gone so well.
Burn-out, physical, emotional and mental fatigue can hit a person hard, and it was at one such time someone said to me, even the fastest Formula One car needs to come into the pits for service at some stage. They were wise words that penetrated deeply.
It means that a balance of sorts needs to be found, that one cannot run at one hundred percent forever.
Continual improvement
It was around then I began to seek balance but that didn't mean I did things at a fifty-fifty ratio, you know, only partly or on a causal basis. I still applied one hundred percent energy, effort and focus but I balanced that with down-time also deployed at one hundred percent, and it's through that method I began to develop faster, and with greater depth whilst maintaining in my health in all aspects. It's a concept I apply to this day in all aspects of my life and I've some amazing results.
It translates to being one hundred percent present in the moments of my life either work, recreation, relationships and social, or self-care aspects along with all the others. I am one hundred percent there rather than having my focus split across several different areas. Sure, I can switch from one to the other instantaneously as need demands, but the focus, the presence, is there.
In speaking with the engine tuner today I realised that he applied the exact same focus to his own life.
He owns the mechanical workshop where I service the LandCruiser and is one of the best diagnostic and tuning guys money can buy...it didn't come easy. But that's the thing I guess, some things are worth working hard for and I believe all of us have a responsibility to ourselves to seek that best-life situation. Whether we attain it or not doesn't matter because simply trying to do so means we improve along the way and, in my assessment seeking continual improvement is better than seeking perfection, because perfection simply doesn't exist for humans.
Tuning our lives isn't an easy thing to do, but it can be rewarding; continually improving ourselves is also rewarding as it means we move forward into the future a little more prepared, a little more equipped and a little more ready for what may come. The experiences from the past affect the present and that affects the future.
How do you prepare yourself in the present to affect your future? How do you add skills, understanding, concepts, thoughts and attitudes to carry you forward with a little more confidence, vigour and to improve your chances of greater results and outcomes? Feel free to comment below.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
This image was taken by me.
I helped a customer the other day. He'd been quoted 5-10 business days, by a colleague. I was able to get that down to 90 mins; and made sure everything was operational before the conversation was over.
There's something so satisfying about going above and beyond. Being in a place where you know what you're capable of, and then demonstrate that. Feels good.
I agree...and it's not even really that difficult to do; just a little extra effort and we can leave someone feeling exceptionally good. There's a certain enjoyment in doing that.
It's an interesting concept, self tuning. I quite like the sound of it as a term.
Me personally, well over the last few months I've been trying to work on not letting things that would really get under my skin a year ago affect me as much now. I still can feel that they have an impact but instead of letting bad situations knock me down for a full day, I find that I'm able to deal with them a bit better now because I've been applying skills in order to do so. Sure, some times they don't work as well as I would like, but mostly they are adequate.
The past definitely does affect everything that comes after it and if you don't apply what you could have learned from it, well then history will surely repeat itself.
Great post Galen. I enjoyed it.
When dealing with things doesn't have the desired effect it can leave us feeling a little helpless, it's normal. The good thing is, that we can apply more of the same, double down on the dealing with it thing and push on. Sometimes it feels like a step forward and two back, but a step forward is a step forward and in itself can give us a little momentum.
Feeling helpless is never a good place to be, but the only way to overcome that is indeed to do something even if just to shake the feeling somewhat. I always find that trying to weigh the steps forward with the ones backwards just keeps me feeling shitty so I try to focus on the forward momentum more than the setbacks and as I deal with the setbacks and resolve them, I find the momentum increases again. But you know what they say, everything in life is like a pendulum, the trick is to just hold the fuck on and keep going.
My friend and I were discussing a very similar topic not too long ago when I dropped by his place, though it was more along the lines of being our own worst critics, and grudgingly accepting a "good enough" result while seeing all the bits where we could have fixed it and trying to keep them in mind for "next time".
We were talking about completely different fields too, so I guess some things are universal truths XD
I think there's a great deal of importance in understanding what went wrong and dealing with those things to work towards a better result for next time; doing the same thing and expecting different results is a rather bonkers thing to do.
Everything in nature is constantly evolving. The moment it stops developing or growing, it begins to die. This is always the case. I read this quote somewhere but I don't remember it now. I'm trying to keep my mind alive all the time. I solve math problems every day. I'm learning Spanish. You can ask the guys on the Hive Gaming discord server how much I've improved hahaha. They say my pronunciation is exactly like a Spaniard. I am also improving myself in software. I am currently working on Web design.
Keeping an active mind is a good policy, and just as important as keeping active physically I believe. Thinking isn't something we generally need to do these days in which everything is laid out for us; we can know everything just by searching the interwebs. It's easy to forget how to think for oneself and so I think it's a good thing to activate the mind through various things and it seems you're doing that.
Exactly, I can't go to the gym these days, but I walk 10 kilometers a few days a week to keep myself physically active.
Yep, walking is good for many reasons. I do a lot also.
The life project is always in the search for balance and fulfillment so that the BEING does not become fragmented.
We are always connected with what is happening. The here and now is a consequence of the past, it is impossible to change what is already programmed by oneself and what you can transform, then let it be from now on and make it different, just as you explain and describe it in that analogy with your SUV. Just as you are.
I am one of those who think, if I do not see it, then I do not know it, then it does not exist, but if I see it, it is mine, and if you see it with me, it is also ours, that is the uniqueness of being.
In adulthood, with these emotional voids, we struggle to fill as much as we can to feel in balance. Every moment we create a world of possibilities is personal, and we are 100% responsible.
Receive my greetings with vigor, and strength Mr. Galen, my respects to you.
I like the, we are responsible, comment.
So many shift the responsibility for themselves to others rather than take the responsibility for themselves. They lay blame, fail to prepare themselves for what may come and rely upon others around them, the government for instance, to take action. I don't think that's a very wise course of action.
Total Mr. Galen and when this happens I say to myself now .... what am I going to do with that?
I let it go, I stay connected, or I change the meaning of what bothers me? To take my own measures to continue loving my reality, urging to find how much beauty I have with me, starting with my life with full health.
That seems like a very good ethos.
Exactly and hence the character and the antifragile personality, at least in my line of thinking mind and soul do the magic when they synchronize to create ease.
I waiver between trying to be balanced, and feeling like balance is over-rated. I'm not sure what I believe yet.
I like the saying, Always keep the main thing, the main thing. When I do that, I know what future to prepare for.
Each of us needs to do what is right for the individual.
I agree with that.
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Perhaps continual self-improvement is a lifelong process. If we stop improving ourselves, we are paralyzed by our personal desires to remain static. While perfection is just an illusion, continual improvement is the reality for it gives us space to grow from within. And I all agree that seeking improvement is better than seeking for perfection.
Yep, I'd say for sure that's the general gist of my post.