Learning something new

A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. –Chinese proverb

As children, we are trying new things all the time: Piano, ballet, scouts, baseball, hockey, art, you name it. But as adults, as time passes, it becomes increasingly more difficult to take on learning a new skill, to take that first step.

You’ve probably heard that it takes 10,000 repetitions to master a skill. This number can be intimidating if you are just starting out. If you’re already in the martial arts and it’s a lifestyle for you, 10,000 repetitions is just part of the journey. But what about starting something new? This idea of so many repetitions can be daunting.

In the beginning, you always feel stupid. You can’t do it and you know you suck at it. So the major barrier is fear. The barrier isn’t intellectual, it’s emotional. Nobody likes to feel stupid.

I admire those who are accomplished at one skill (take karate, for example) and decide to become beginners in another related, but different skill, like Modern Arnis. This takes courage. 

But what if you knew that it only takes 20 hours (number of repetitions depends on the task) to learn a new skill? You might be more inclined to take that first step. Josh Kaufman, a teacher who specializes in teaching practical skills, has discovered that 20 hours is the tipping point for learning a new skill. Now mastery, that’s a different kettle of fish. We’re back to 10,000 repetitions. Obviously learning something and mastering it are two different orders of magnitude. It's the doing that is important. If you love it enough, you will stick with it and develop mastery. If you don't, move on to something else. It's the journey that counts.

Decide what you want to learn and start now. What’s your thing? Go out and do that thing. It only takes 20 hours. And have fun!

Life ain’t easy; train anyway.

Fruit - good or bad?

One of my pet peeves is hearing people say fruit is bad because it’s full of sugar. Sugar is bad ergo fruit is bad. Sugar's sugar... or is it?

Yes, fruit contains a fair amount of sugar but that’s hardly a reason for avoiding it.  If you are diabetic, you might have to limit it but for most folks fruit is a highly nutritious snack full of antioxidants, vitamins and fibre.

A related question about fruit came up recently in regard to cancer. You've probably heard before that sugar feeds cancer, right? Well, that's true.  It doesn't mean that sugar necessarily "causes" cancer in the first place, but if your immune system is weak from other aspects of life (stress, poor nutrition, etc.), and you're exposed to chemicals in food or the environment (or radiation) that are known to cause cancer, then you're giving your body the perfect set of conditions to actually develop cancer by eating sugar.

Which begs the question: "Can I eat fruit if I'm trying to prevent cancer, or can a friend that's fighting cancer eat fruit and not add fuel to the fire with extra sugar?"

That's actually a great question, and one that I pondered as well.  According to the documentary The Truth about Cancer”, the answer is yes, you can eat fruit and still prevent cancer. In one of the episodes, one of the world's top experts in natural cancer research talks about the differences between right spin and left spin sugars.

Without getting too technical, the basic thing that he talked about was that processed sugars (from table sugar, corn syrup, and other junk food sugars) are the ones that actually feed cancer in your body, but the types of sugars that are naturally in an antioxidant-rich fruit do not actually help to feed cancer.  The sugars in fruits are more "neutral" instead... and in fact, some fruits that have high antioxidant levels (such as berries) are particularly powerful in the fight against cancer even though they do contain moderate amounts of natural sugar.

Keep in mind that to benefit from fruit, you need the WHOLE fruit (including the fiber), not just the processed fruit juice.  Consuming large amounts of concentrated sugar in fruit juices is never a good idea, whether we're talking about weight gain, diabetes, or cancer.

I hope this puts that idea to rest. Fruit is not bad. In fact, a diet high in fruits and vegetables is the most powerful proactive step you can take to prevent certain forms of cancer. And if you don’t get enough vegetables, the good news is that many fruits rival even the best vegetables at lowering your risk of getting cancer. Eating 2 vitamin C-rich fruits and 2 other fruits a day is recommended.