Being more childish is the door to mastery

Two answers always stuck with me when I was younger.

These were the answers that I got when I didn't want to do something. Or did want to do something but weren’t allowed to. The answer was:

'That’s why.'

'Because I said so.'

I never got that.

When that happened I got pulled out of my curiosity loop. The words logic and reasoning were not in my dictionary. The only thing I wanted was to engage with the outside world.

All-the-freaking-time.

Playing is a vital part of trying, falling, learning, and exploring. By playing more my intrinsic motivations grew very strong.

Whenever I got older more 'because I said so' and ‘that’s why’ became part of me. Not only from my parents but also from teachers, relatives, and sports coaches.

Every child faces this problem. You NEED to grow up.

And by doing so we lose touch with many of our most precious gifts.

Growing up's problems

'Stop acting like a child and grow up'.

'Act like a grown-up'.

These are sentences that you'll hear often when you're getting older. Most of the time it's a desired outcome from your parents.

Growing up is an essential part of your life, but there is a platitude of problems that happen in their current form.

These are sentences that you'll hear often when you're getting older. I heard them a lot when I was growing up.

Most of the time it's a desired outcome from your parents. They themselves have also had to follow this cursed structure.

But growing up is an essential part of your life, so shouldn't you just accept it?

Well if we look at the current structure of growing up there are a platitude of problems:

1. Lose the lust to wander

2. Become very defensive

3. Interest in creativity and curiosity gets evaporated

4. Desensitization of ourselves

5. Increase in anxiety and stress

As you can see, growing up makes us less 'open'.

Open to the world.

We lose our internal explorer by following a system that is not our system. And our curiosity is what makes us, us. So by neglecting this part of yourself, you are in a downward spiral.

The result is you are a train passenger looking at the world instead of engaging with it.

But how can we combat this structure that we tend to follow?

Inner child = road to mastery

What if we change the sentence 'stop acting like a child and grow up'?

Instead, we make it: 'Embrace your inner child and grow up'.

(visual bubble)

By doing so you will experience some changes in your average day.

1. Increase in curiosity

2. Easier access to creativity

3. Less defensive, more open

4. Work with more enjoyment

5. Hard work becomes easy

6. Become kinder toward others

7. More humbleness

There will be a shift in your perspective. Once you'll start to reconnect with your inner child you'll transition toward a new bubble. A bubble to enables you to unlock your full potential.

It’s the door the mastery.

So where do we start?

Easy, we start at the source:

Children.

Children’s greatest lessons for us

Sometimes the solution is right in front of us, yet we don't see it.

This is the case here.

The 5 crucial things we NEED to learn from children:

1) Ask more questions

The paradox of sounding stupid hurts us in many ways.

We don't want to come off as dumb or stupid.

Kids don't care about sounding stupid. They just want to find out. They are not bound to our desire to fit in.

Installing this powerful characteristic is easier than you think.

Start by asking more questions to yourself and your surroundings.

It doesn't matter if there a related to work, life, relationships, sex, or the universe.

Ask more each day and you will start to become curious again.

You never want to go back.

2) Try more, play more

The power of trying has led us to where we are today.

As a species, we survived through our observational and communication capabilities. We tried, we failed and we got up.

This is the way it has been since the beginning of humanity.

Your job is to reconnect to trying, failing, and getting up.

To try new things.

The secret: Make it easy and fun.

• Try a dish you never ate

• Do a wheelie on your bike

• Volunteer somewhere

• Do pilates instead of pull-ups

• Do pull-ups instead of pilates

You get it.

Now go do it.

3) Laugh more

Laughing is one of the greatest things we do.

I know you believe me, but take a look at the benefits:

• Stress relieve

• Improve immune system

• Relieves pain

• Improves your mood

• More social activity

Laughing more is two-sided. If you laugh more, you'll attract more funny people.

So find 5 funny jokes online.

Share them. Be funny. Laugh.

Become more positive -> is a more positive life.

4) Spark your creativity

You give kids a pen and your wall will never be the same again.

The beauty of it is that they create, even though you have to repaint your wall. They immerse themselves in their doing. The analytical mind that could correct them along the way is not yet there.

So how can we?

We need to routinize our creativity.

"Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work." - Chuck Close

Great writers and artists don't wait for creativity to happen. They create an environment where it will happen.

• Choose a goal (make a drawing, write 100 words, etc)

• Pick a topic

• Pick a fixed moment in the day

• Set a timer for 15 min

• Go create

The focus point is to NOT aim for perfection. You want to produce without any judgments from your inner judge.

Pro tip: the mornings are often good moments to get started. You are still fresh in your mind and full of energy.

Deal with the frustration in the beginning. Over time you'll create more freely.

The results will be visible in every part of your life.

5) Trust your instinct

How many times was there a little voice in your brain that told you not to do something?

The older we get the more we question our instinct. It's not that our instinct can't be wrong, but by questioning it we stop doing.

Looking at kids, they are extremely analytical. Got you.

Kids solely thrive on their instinct. It goes all over the place, but by doing they learn. And by learning they grow.

But here is the cycle of growth:

Doing = failing
Failing = learning
Learning = growing

The more we do, the our instinct becomes.

Let's make our instinct a bit more tangible.

How?

Pick a pen and a piece of paper and answer these questions:

• One a scale of 0-10 how is my emotional state? Why?

• How is my decision-making process today? Why?

Over time you will see a pattern, which creates awareness. This will help connect better to your instincts and when to rely on them.

Never forget the 'why' in journaling.

It's why you do what you do.

And the why is what thrives us.

To summarize:

• The common theme of growing up

• Current problems of growing up

• Embracing your inner child for mastery

• 5 ways children can help us

There is much that is lost when we grow up into adults. Mainly our openness to the world. So as much as kids learn from us, we must learn from them.

They possess what we lost and what we should regain in our quest for mastery.

Our curiosity.

Hope you enjoyed it and take care!

See you next time.

- Tim