Darya Sinusoid, Author at Shortform Books

Josh Waitzkin: The Key to Athletic Success Is Creativity

What is the key to athletic success? What do the world’s greatest athletes do differently? According to American tai chi champion Josh Waitzkin, when it comes to competing in the top league, it’s not skill or technical mastery that makes an athlete stand out—it is creativity. Your creativity is a unique asset—just like every musician makes their own music, you’ll express your skill in a way unique to you. Here’s how to find your creative style as an athlete.

Josh Waitzkin: How to Learn Better and Faster

Does learning come easy to you? Would you like to learn better, faster, and more effectively? According to Josh Waitzkin, effective learning comes from your deep commitment to your growth process. In his book The Art of Learning, he explains how to learn more effectively, drawing from his long experience as a world-class chess competitor. Here’s how to learn better and faster, according to Josh Waitzkin.

Learning Proper Form: Practice Makes Perfect

Why is proper form so important? How do you train yourself to maintain the correct form without constantly thinking about it? When you are learning a new move, it’s important to practice it with proper form from the get-go. If you practice with improper form, you don’t just risk injury, but also make it harder to retrain yourself as your body gets used to an incorrect form. Here’s how to learn the proper form for any move or exercise.

The Art of Learning: Quotes by Josh Waitzkin

Are you looking for The Art of Learning quotes by Josh Waitzkin? What are some of the most noteworthy passages worth revisiting? The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin explores his approach to all learning in a memoir-esque format. He explores the fundamentals of his learning method and mindset, building incrementally through intermediate to advanced strategies. Here’s a selection of The Art of Learning quotes by Josh Waitzkin.

Accountability Meetings: Tips for Leaders

Do you hold accountability meetings with your employees? How often do you meet, and what do you discuss? In The 4 Disciplines of Execution, Chris McChesney, Jim Huling, and Sean Covey recommend holding a weekly accountability meeting—what they call a WIG (Wildly Important Goal) session. At each WIG session, team members will report what they’ve accomplished last week and what they plan to accomplish in the coming week. Keep reading to learn about the 4DX accountability meeting.

Effective Learning Is About Balancing Tensions

What’s the key to effective learning? How do you know when to stop and take a break? When it comes to learning, there are no clear, sharp lines that indicate what to do, where to stop, and so on. For example, your body gives no obvious indication of when you’ve reached your mental limits, so you have to learn to sense when that edge is near. According to Josh Waitzkin, the key to effective learning is to balance three tensions: 1) exertion and relaxation, 2) process and results, 3) the technical and the creative. Here’s how to supercharge your learning by

How to Achieve a State of Peak Performance

How do athletes achieve peak performance states? What are the two ingredients required to reach your peak performance? According to Joshua Waitzkin, the key to performing at your peak is to refine your skills until they flow seamlessly, intuitively, and effortlessly. Once you’ve reached such technical automaticity, you’ll be able to access enhanced perception as your brain will be able to process more information with less effort. Learn about the two ingredients for enhanced perception, according to Josh Waitzkin.

How to Set WIG Goals (The 4 Disciplines of Execution)

What are “WIGs” or “Wildly Important Goals”? What are some things you should consider when deciding on your WIGs? Wildly Important Goals form the crux of the first discipline of the 4DX. These are the goals that should be your primary focus. Once you choose your WIGs, the next step is to choose your team goals that will support the WIGs. Keep reading to learn about the concept of WIG goals.

Bill Campbell: Trillion Dollar Coach

What’s the story of Bill Campbell—Trillion Dollar Coach? What was his leadership philosophy? Bill Campbell helped to build some of Silicon Valley’s greatest companies, including Google, Apple, and Intuit. In Trillion Dollar Coach, Google executives Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle have compiled Campbell’s principles for business and life. According to Schmidt, the book’s title is an understatement—if you add up the market capitalization of all the companies he coached, Campbell’s value was worth much more than one trillion dollars. We’ll cover the key themes of Bill Campbell’s philosophy: operational leadership, building workplace trust, building stronger teams, and leading

Advice on Learning Through Trial and Error

Is trial and error a good way to learn? Do you take time to reflect and extract lessons from your mistakes? Error is inherent in learning. Mistakes reveal the flaws in our skills and show us where to grow. The key to learning through trial and error is to focus on the process, not the results. If you fixate on results, you’ll get derailed by mistakes, not learn from them. Here’s why growth comes from trial and error.