On-Training ​

Deriving at a clear concept of training is useful, since it assists the mind to stay in the mode of training as opposed to falling back to routine behaviour. The following thus attempts to destill the essence of the term training in order to clarify the concept. Originally, the word appeared in shape of the latin verb trahere and meant as much as pulling horses out of the stable for exercise. Today the term is used across domains for "hands on practice" in a field. Succinctly, training can be defined as

Activity that leads to skilled behaviour

Not any activity leads to skilled behaviour. For an a action to qualify as training it requires to be:

• deliberate
• repeated
• challenging

Training is a deliberate action

The trainee's attention is fully directed to the activity and focused on perfection of its execution. Training is an intentional act and accompanied by periods of reflection over previous training to identify points of improvement.

Training is a repeated activity

Skill is not acquired by singular exercise but high amounts of repetition. The wildly known "10.000 hours rule" is indicative of that fact. Though I don't believe in the exact number 10.000, it is certainly true that multiple years of consistent and deliberate practice are required to truely master any skill.

Training is challenging

Staying in your comfort zone means statying in your area of competence, i.e. environments your organism is already adapated to. Training is opposed to that. By confronting ourselves with novel sets of stimuli, on the verge of our maximum capability, we get out of our comfort zone. This element of challenge seems required to trigger adaptation responses that ultimately make us stronger. Ginni Rometty put it simply: “Growth and comfort do not coexist".

The three stated properties reveal that training is effortful and in itself not the most pleasant experience. In the current western culture there is the tendency to eliminate all factors of stress and discomfort from our lives. As a rebellion against that, I 'd like to motivate for training. Periods of discomfort not only make us more robust against diseases but also more appreciative for mundane experiences:

The water tasts just better after a long outdoor run, so does food after a longer fasting period!