
Joseph Henderson
#14: Creating Lasting Change: The Science of Habits with Joseph Henderson
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Joseph Henderson unpacks the mechanics of habit formation, explaining why we struggle to change and how to harness the science of small, incremental shifts. By understanding the psychology of triggers and rewards, Joseph provides a blueprint for building habits that stick. He also touches on overcoming common barriers to change and the role of accountability in personal development. Access the show notes for this episode at: https://www.cameronnorsworthy.com/flow-unleashed
ABOUT THE GUEST
Joseph Henderson
Joseph Henderson is a British parkour athlete renowned for his exceptional speed and agility. He has secured multiple first-place finishes in speed competitions, including the North American Parkour Championships (NAPC). As a member of Storm Freerun, Joseph has showcased his skills globally, contributing to the parkour community through performances and coaching. His dedication to the discipline has made him a prominent figure in the sport.
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SHOW NOTES / RESOURCES
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:24:11
Unknown
Flow. Unleashed. Unleashed. Unleashed. Would you say that you enjoy a deep sense of meaning to your life? Do you know what day to day actions are your most meaningful?
00:00:24:13 - 00:00:54:23
Unknown
Welcome to flow unleashed. I'm Doctor Cameron Norsworthy, scientist and High-Performance coach to multiple world champions. In this show, we unpack key insights on specific topics so that you are kept up to date with the latest science and practice of human performance.
00:00:55:01 - 00:01:29:19
Unknown
First of the psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl suggested in his 1946 book Man's Search for meaning that the primary motivation of a person is to discover their meaning in life. Frankl insisted that meaning can be discovered under all circumstances, even in the most dire or miserable experiences of loss and tragedy. For example, it is this sense of meaning that drives us to be the best version of ourselves.
00:01:29:21 - 00:02:00:03
Unknown
And when we have a clear sense of meaning and purpose, then we thrive and excel. Having a purpose in life and finding meaning in what we do is not just a luxury. It is a fundamental human need. However, for most people, feeling meaning and finding a real purpose in life is troublesome or not obvious. In fact, most people find it hard to define their purpose in life.
00:02:00:05 - 00:02:38:02
Unknown
Researchers suggest that people with a purpose in life are happier, more motivated, less likely to experience regulatory issues during decision making, and find it easier to make positive health related lifestyle decisions. According to one study from Butler and Scamp of 43,000 and 391 Japanese adults, it was found that over a seven year follow up period, having a purpose in life increases health and longevity across cultures, sexes, and age groups, and explains why some people live to a ripe old age in longevity hotspots.
00:02:38:04 - 00:03:08:02
Unknown
A review on the energy management of People in organizations by researchers, shapers and Hogans highlights that without such a purpose in life, a lot of time and energy is often frittered away on non meaningful busyness, further dirtying the already murky waters of finding meaning in what we do. It is clear that younger people are searching for meaning in life, but this search is unrelated to actually finding it.
00:03:08:04 - 00:03:32:15
Unknown
For the most part, people feel pressure to have a perfect life, to live the life they feel they should live, or perhaps even the life that parents want them to live. Instead of following up on their deep felt values and passions, take Paul, for example, a C-suite executive at a major project management firm. By all standards, he is living a fulfilling life.
00:03:32:17 - 00:03:56:23
Unknown
He earns a top salary, manages hundreds of staff, lives in an amazing custom built home, has loving kids holiday home and can afford almost anything he wants. Though he's unhappy so one day he makes a decision to quit his job. He struggles to find his true purpose and dabbles in work. The pays the bills as he explores what interests him and as time goes by.
00:03:57:01 - 00:04:25:18
Unknown
His wife divorces him and he struggles to find his passion. Having focus for so long on the achievements of status and money that have not yielded the satisfaction he had hoped, he continues to have trouble connecting to his true self and true purpose in further exploration with professional help. He discovers that what he has actually been doing for all those years is living the life his parents wish for him.
00:04:25:20 - 00:04:52:14
Unknown
He continued for so many years as he thought these were the goals that would bring fulfillment, keep everyone happy and wealthy. Yet, on reflection, he wished he had lived an entirely different life and followed his passions for astronomy instead. And now starting a new career and going back to studying at university. Seems like too much of a big leap.
00:04:52:16 - 00:05:22:17
Unknown
My career shape as a Nicholas Ziegler scientist from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands, suggests that because of reasons such as this, such as Paul's example and the parental and societal pressures to engage in society in a certain manner, young adults struggle with the important life decisions they are expected to make as they move into early adulthood, and that many people either drift aimlessly through life or keep changing their goals.
00:05:22:17 - 00:05:50:18
Unknown
Running around, chasing happiness. Their research highlighted that even if people search for meaning, they may not find it unless they are prompted to do so in a more structured and evidence based manner. Today's guest, Joseph Henderson, is the practical and hopeful example of what happens when we do search for meaning in a structured manner. Known as the People's Champion of Park Rule.
00:05:50:20 - 00:06:20:13
Unknown
Joseph is widely recognized as one of the greatest parkour athletes. In this interview, he alludes to his success being results of finding meaning through his actions and proactively continuing to create this meaning. His structured approach to creating a purpose for himself has enabled him to create a career that many would think implausible decades ago. He's been able to taste the fruits of living a purpose filled and meaningful life.
00:06:20:15 - 00:06:48:16
Unknown
Welcome, Joseph. I'm excited to have this chat. Thank you very much for having me. I'm excited for people that don't know freerunning and parkour. Can you explain the background to the sport? Buchholz was originated in France about 30 years ago. Some young guys on the streets of this like, kind of ghettos of Paris influenced by military and fire fighting, like obstacle courses.
00:06:48:18 - 00:07:21:21
Unknown
They started to play around on the streets with the idea of becoming a strong and as capable physically and mentally as possible, with the idea of some sort of higher goal of being able to help society or be the competent and, able to be used, if any situation, a situation arise in which they were needed. They had a kind of motto, the pronunciation of which I'm sure I'm about to slaughter, but, for try utility something along those lines, which essentially means be strong to be useful.
00:07:21:23 - 00:07:42:16
Unknown
And so they would practice, you know, to navigate around their environment, whether it was a city or nearby forests, just as efficiently as possible. They would also train martial arts and things like that. It was the part around moving around an environment efficiently, which sort of caught on and started to spread around the globe. It was very much tied in with the kind of rise of YouTube and, and social media.
00:07:42:16 - 00:08:14:19
Unknown
And through the internet and videos and, all this virality spread to the point I wish now it's like, recognized the sport and has won hundreds of thousands of people practicing worldwide and some really strong community across the globe, and has kind of morphed from something that was initially really about just efficiency and being strong to be useful into something that now incorporates style and competition and a lot of filmmaking and, and things like this.
00:08:14:19 - 00:08:37:04
Unknown
It's like very much become a kind of, you know, extreme urban urban sport now, like similar to skateboarding or snowboarding with an entire sort of culture and community behind it.
00:08:37:06 - 00:09:23:17
Unknown
Both freerunning and parkour participants seek to reimagine mostly in urban spaces and find new ways to move through areas developed from military obstacle course training. Parkour includes flipping, running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling and quadrupedal movements. Whatever is suitable for a given situation to get from point A to point B in the quickest way possible. Freerunning is a similar activity, but emphasizes the performance side of parkour with stylistic flips, tricks, and acrobatics, and Joseph has taken the playful art form of freerunning to the next level professionally, both in his movies and in competition.
00:09:23:19 - 00:09:59:06
Unknown
According to discipline founders, puck war is an individual discipline of physical and mental control, while freerunning is more theatrical and social, sport of physical expression. In the real world, though, the differences between the two disciplines are blurring and there can be confusion even among participants. Philosophy plays an even more important role in parkour than in freerunning. In fact, many of the most prominent athletes in parkour have clarified that park was not a sport, but an art or a discipline.
00:09:59:08 - 00:10:24:03
Unknown
It involves seeing one's environment in a new way and envisioning innovative navigation. A bench or staircase is no longer just a single use item. It becomes a never ending opportunity to move on it, round it, across it, through it, over it, or under its features to achieve the creativity of mind dexterous movement that many athletes could only dream about.
00:10:24:05 - 00:11:00:11
Unknown
Elite park and freerunning athletes suggest it requires an intense focus on the self, on merging mind and body, and being able to overcome physical and mental obstacles. Raymond Bell, one of the original composers of this art or physical form, described parkour as a means of self refinement and improving physical and mental control. An emerging philosophy of parkour is that of human reclamation, or moving naturally through an environment in a way that has been lost in civilization.
00:11:00:13 - 00:11:38:02
Unknown
The idea is to interact with and use the physical world, rather than simply be directed by it. Like any sport, taken to its limit involves a merging of self within the act. Though parkour demands the synthesis even at more elementary beginner stages of progression, perhaps you have felt like the composer as you jump up onto the side of a wall, balanced for a few seconds, and then try to jump down or walk across the top of the narrow wall, or perhaps whilst walking along the beach or forest, you've jumped from rock to rock.
00:11:38:07 - 00:12:02:21
Unknown
Playing with the natural environment. Testing your ability. The essence of park and freerunning is really no different. It's a fascinating sport and one that I think is so amazing to watch because everyone can relate to it. You know, everyone has jumped off a, a something, you know, and they can relate to how difficult it is to jump and to run and to do sort of difficult.
00:12:02:23 - 00:12:24:09
Unknown
The name is just in our back garden or whatever. And I think the fact that there is unlike, you know, skateboarding or snowboarding or any other sports like that, really, there's nothing else involved other than your body and the environment that you're interacting with. And I think you're right. Like, that definitely does give a level of relate ability to the average person that you wouldn't get in other sports.
00:12:24:09 - 00:12:48:21
Unknown
The fact, you know, everyone's run, everyone's jumped before. And so to just see that taken to its extreme, I suppose this is something that everyone can kind of appreciate the difficulty of or the pursuit of. Yeah. And on that, on that anyone can kind of get involved with on some level. Yeah. That's the most inspiring thing. You know, you watch it and then you want to see you go and take your back garden on.
00:12:48:23 - 00:13:13:01
Unknown
What do you love about it? What keeps you challenged and interested in it? I think this is something that becoming familiarized with the concept of flowers has helped me to understand because there is, especially as I've taken my training, I suppose, to a higher and higher level and become more and more serious about it, like there are moments which are just pure, just, you know, fun, like you're with close friends and you're challenging yourself and laughing and joking and having a good time.
00:13:13:03 - 00:13:37:00
Unknown
But the times that do provide the most, the most meaning, I think the times that really have kept me involved for this length of time and have made me so serious about wanting to pursue it. The times when actually in the moment there's not a whole lot of joy happening. There's, you know, I'm scared because the challenge I'm doing is is consequential.
00:13:37:00 - 00:14:06:18
Unknown
If I fail as physical pain because I'm tired and edgy and maybe I'm competing or I'm shooting for something. So there's pressure on me too. And it's like in the moment it can be painful and stressful. And yet it is those times that, the times that I really relish in the times that I feel like is what provides me with the most satisfaction and really is what I, what I strive for when I'm doing parkour and the reason that I do it.
00:14:06:23 - 00:14:25:05
Unknown
But yeah. Becoming familiarized with the concepts of flow have helped me to understand why that is, because it's a strange. It seems unnatural at first. It's like, what? But why would I want to be in these situations where at the time this I'm kind of suffering and, you know, of course, as you would know, flow can certainly help to explain why that is.
00:14:25:07 - 00:14:49:06
Unknown
If I suddenly off as a kind of a growth principle where we're invited back again to meet that challenge, skill, balance and test ourselves in a sort of optimal fashion, and the rewards, some meaning that we get from that, are quite incredible, really, as well as the fantastic feeling of kind of everything else that's not important in the world shutting down and just a total focus on what is.
00:14:49:06 - 00:15:30:10
Unknown
And small payments or long the moments were able to get a bit more clarity and within our consciousness, and it kind of allows us to become more developed and more skilled and complex person, which is probably what Aristotle was talking about back in his time. Essentially. Yeah. Way to, to be constantly challenging myself to be testing a skill set against, surety of challenges and having the ability to control the, the difficulty of the challenges and constantly be pushing that and matching them to, to my skill set in a way to adequate challenges me and, and promotes growth within that skill set.
00:15:30:10 - 00:15:51:23
Unknown
And generally mentally. I think that a lot of the a lot of the challenges are particularly the there's a lot of overcoming mental barriers in parkour. It seems like a very physical activity on the surface, but I think that the hardest challenges that you have to overcome, really mental ones dealing with fear and, you know, anyone can run and jump as far as they can and try and get further.
00:15:51:23 - 00:16:28:15
Unknown
And it doesn't take that much of, degree of skill or like, you know, I have to, you don't have to push yourself too hard to just progress physically. But it's when the mental challenges come into play, when you're doing things that have like consequence, if you were to fail or things that you aren't totally comfortable with and pushing skills in an area that you're that you're maybe not as comfortable with and when you're having to overcome fear and really worked with mental processes of like getting from a point where you're mentally not prepared to do something to a point where you are totally prepared and committed to doing something.
00:16:28:17 - 00:16:59:21
Unknown
I think those so challenges progress. You not just within parkour, but I feel like they've strengthened me mentally, just generally. And it's a skill set that can be applied to any area of life where you're having to overcome mental barriers like that. I think in terms of applying flow to life as a whole, the way in which I orient myself and set objectives and break them down into smaller, achievable objectives that provide me with consistent and regular feedback on whether I'm on the right track.
00:16:59:21 - 00:17:30:20
Unknown
And meeting those objectives is something is very important to me, something that's helped me a lot to direct and to achieve in my life, and has certainly come as a result of learning about flow and certainly become a much more active and conscious process as a result of of my like, increasing knowledge and flow. And do you find that when your intention is towards that meaning, that flow, that self-expression, either in parkour or outside, how does that respond in your life?
00:17:30:21 - 00:17:51:00
Unknown
Do you feel that you do get more meaning back, or there is a better performance? Or do you sort of feel like there's any effect that has on you? Yeah, I think even just as a way to guide the choices that you make, it can of course be difficult to know where to direct your life, what to aim for, how to fill your time.
00:17:51:02 - 00:18:22:08
Unknown
If you don't have some sort of framework to orient yourself around, some kind of guideline and some sort of ideal to strive for, and obviously religion could provide that for some people. Some people are very, you know, without having to consciously think about meaning, they might have, you know, just always been on one particular thing and whether it's some sort of career, like maybe someone's always wanted to be a doctor and that that just provides a sense of meaning for their entire life as they strive to do that.
00:18:22:10 - 00:18:55:17
Unknown
There's a lot of people who don't necessarily have any obvious framework around which to, to guide the the choices that they make and the things that they strive for. And the idea of flow, the idea of optimal experiences being achievable, and the idea of that being a set way to find meaning in a set concept that there are certain activities and a certain way of looking at life, a certain state of consciousness in which to, to strive for that can provide the greatest meaning.
00:18:55:17 - 00:19:26:17
Unknown
And the greatest satisfaction is something that can be incredibly valuable in in orienting where to set goals and what direction to, to be choosing. And how does that tie into, like your objectives, if you've got an objective to, to do particular competition or to sort of nail a particular, route that you've kind of got in your mind that you want to do, well, a particular challenge in the future that you've sort of thought about a lot and you've got a desire to do X and whatever that may be.
00:19:26:19 - 00:19:53:06
Unknown
How does it integrate into your objectives of creating a path to doing that or achieving that? Well, my process for, directing and like trying to achieve anything, I suppose much our process for how I orient my life is that, reflect like internally and set an overarching goal, like some ultimate objective, some far off ideal of what ultimate.
00:19:53:06 - 00:20:15:14
Unknown
I'd like to I'd like to achieve in whatever time frame. And then from that, I'll break down that ultimate objective into a series of, of much smaller objectives that lead towards that and then keep repeating that process, breaking everything down until I get to the point where in front of me, I have a list of things that I, I should do today, and then another list tomorrow.
00:20:15:16 - 00:20:54:03
Unknown
And having these objectives of the smallest, the smaller scale objectives which, ultimately leading towards something greater. And then I think the important thing then is that the ultimate goal can more or less be forgotten, and you can just focus on the everyday tasks that need to be achieved. And keeping that idea of this ultimate goal just in the back of your mind, just to, I suppose, the only value of keeping that of having that ultimate objective is to provide a sense of meaning and keep giving you that's that little bit of satisfaction every time you complete one of your everyday goals.
00:20:54:05 - 00:21:23:08
Unknown
Other than that, it's like thinking about it too much. Just abstract abstracts your goals too far from everyday reality. And ultimately, I think today it's from what I found to, to not getting closer to achieving them anyway. It is the breaking down of those like large, far off goals into achievable everyday tasks, which is what keeps providing you with a consistent sense of meaning and keeps you on track to ultimately achieving those far off goals.
00:21:23:10 - 00:21:46:15
Unknown
I think to sort of put that in the vocabulary of flow. So the the ultimate objective that you set is the provider of meaning. Is it allows like everyday events and the everyday tasks that you set to be linked to each other. So there's a temporal order and a like a causal connection between each of the tasks and events that would otherwise be distinct from each other.
00:21:46:20 - 00:22:13:17
Unknown
And it allows for you to reveal that purpose in action, to express your goals in like, consistent and predictable ways, and allows you to essentially unify the entirety of your life and to unify those everyday moments into one single flow experience. Because you are constantly working with this idea of a higher goal in mind, you're constantly being fed a sense of meaning.
00:22:13:19 - 00:22:34:21
Unknown
But then the breaking down of that goal allows for you to have some sort of, system of like, regular and consistent feedback, which is an important concept within flow for of activity to be successful in producing flow, you want that to be receiving regular and consistent feedback, to be knowing where you're at in relation to where you want to be.
00:22:34:23 - 00:23:06:07
Unknown
And that's how I apply flow into life as a whole and use it as a framework for choosing direction in Cyc language. You've probably practically reverse engineered. It really, really works. And it's like language. We talk a lot about having that initial vision, which allows, like the physiology and the neurology and the other more subconscious components of our self to form a reality that gives us an end state, then allows us to make allows decision making to be much easier, and then the focuses more on the process.
00:23:06:07 - 00:23:32:15
Unknown
And as you said, breaking them all down into many objectives or process goals, which then allows us to kind of go to the next thing and the next thing without this overwhelming outcome and distraction is actually and shows that those goals are achievable and, and that your skills match the opportunities for action, rather than just becoming anxious in the face of a seemingly impossibly difficult task of achieving like ultimate far off go.
00:23:32:17 - 00:24:05:21
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. And as soon as our focus becomes on that outcome, we kind of almost disempower ourself because we're constantly putting ourselves in a position of we're not there yet. We're not there yet. Rather than focusing our full attention on what we can do right now, or it's great to hear a story where all of that is happening in action, and you kind of touched a little bit on the concurrency of those goals, of them all kind of interlinked thing into one, to make the sort of powerful momentum of things occurring in your life.
00:24:05:23 - 00:24:30:16
Unknown
And how important do you feel is the kind of that internal currency in terms of the goals you're chasing, having a meaning for you, and in order to kind of reach the the successes or reach the status of play that you want to take, I think is incredibly important. This is absolutely an integral to, having a sense of meaning in your everyday life.
00:24:30:16 - 00:24:51:05
Unknown
I think that as we touched on, the overall objective should be like that. How did you how did you set the vision? You don't to be focusing on it too much, because it can lead to a sense that you're you're never close to it. It seems like a charge is too much to take on not having that over that sort of overarching objective, that vision, from my experience.
00:24:51:05 - 00:25:12:05
Unknown
And it was one with the feeling that this sort of just means meaninglessly drifting without purpose or without something to strive for. Even if those short term goals are set, the less likely to be achieved because alone abstracted from the vision of an ideal future, like abstracted from from that ultimate goal, the everyday task can feel sort of purposeless.
00:25:12:05 - 00:25:35:01
Unknown
And it's like, how can one have drive to do something that that serves no ultimate purpose? Yeah. Where how does that energy gather momentum? And how do if cycles your energy in a direction when there's no north to the come. But exactly. Yeah, exactly. The completion of the immediate objectives is completely subject to the whim of motivation, which is transient.
00:25:35:01 - 00:25:59:02
Unknown
It's fleeting. Motivation can come and go, you know, like the weather and what is needed to ensure the completion of those of those immediate everyday tasks, of those immediate objectives is discipline. And that discipline comes in servitude to a higher course, which is that that ultimate objective, that vision. It's that sense of discipline, that sense that you know what you're working towards.
00:25:59:02 - 00:26:20:11
Unknown
And because of that, you have this discipline which allows you to wake up in the morning without a shred of will to complete a task and yet get up and complete it anyway. It's the state of mind, allows you to be totally, I suppose, totally divorced from those fleeting feelings of motivation which seem to come largely as an extent of just ex extrinsic circumstance.
00:26:20:11 - 00:26:45:20
Unknown
Like whether, you know, you can watch some super motivational movie and be all pumped up to, to go get out and work for something and then wake up the next morning and be tired and and decide, no, I think I'll stay in bed for a while. But it's that state of mind where you're where you're able to completely have no motivation, have no shred of will to go and complete the objectives that you set for yourself.
00:26:46:01 - 00:27:18:14
Unknown
And yet you get up and you do so anyway. It's that state of mind that's required for progress to occur. And it is that state of mind, I think, which lends itself to, the sensation of flow in an optimal experience. Yeah. I mean, when we look at flow is this, I guess this ordered consciousness in a way that things are flowing in the same direction all at once, and it feels effortless and smooth because there's so much congruency and synchronicity internally with it, where we sort of don't have that end state, the mind.
00:27:18:16 - 00:27:52:13
Unknown
You know, I think it's important to touch on this because, you know, there's a lot of people who might be quite focused and directed in one area, but when it comes to other areas of our life, we're kind of a bit more lazy about it when we don't have any direction they like, he said. You know, we become a consequence of what's happening around us or in our environment or other extrinsic sort of factors come in and it can sometimes feel like a bit of, and hey, man, I gotta like, you know, think about what I actually want and I kind of get serious about some things.
00:27:52:15 - 00:28:28:22
Unknown
And we, you know, often where a lot of us will do it within a main thing or a career or whatever. That might be, but to do it in other areas of life which are just as important, whether that's our relationships or our finances or, you know, whatever it is, you know, if we don't, we kind of run the risk of a and somehow he talks a lot about the entropy of that kind of the chaos, preciousness and and as our brain is constantly trying to figure out in this kind of Bayesian theory mode of constantly predicting what's going to happen next, it's always predicting about what's going to happen next in reference to a
00:28:28:22 - 00:28:51:15
Unknown
particular end state that we've yet assumed or wanted or visioned or whatever. And when that's sort of missing or unclear, there's this kind of constant confusion in our mind and in our consciousness, and it can be exhausting, among other things. And in some ways it's comfortable in the beginning. But then we keep hitting roadblocks and it becomes frustrating or exhausting.
00:28:51:15 - 00:29:44:21
Unknown
And you find when you've got that intention or direction or you're looking for meaning in other areas of your life has a kind of reciprocal effect into everything else. So unlocks we. Definitely. Yeah. I having something that I'm striving towards and working for every day provides a sense that I'm doing something meaningful. That sense of purpose and ultimate, a sense of satisfaction, of happiness which bleeds into every other aspect of life and improves the quality of life experience generally, just having such a huge difference between sort of drifting, drifting through life, feeling purposeless and really just charging through life, feeling driven and having something that you're working towards and every day be striving for that.
00:29:44:23 - 00:30:11:05
Unknown
And just the way in which it affects consciousness. The difference that I observe in my mind when I'm driven, as opposed to drifting, is a state which remains present through every everything in life, like not just in the pursuit of whatever that goal is, but just like puts puts my mind in a much happier and more, driven state for everything that happens during a day.
00:30:11:07 - 00:30:33:22
Unknown
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00:30:34:00 - 00:30:54:17
Unknown
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00:30:54:19 - 00:31:19:01
Unknown
The meaning of life used to be an elusive concept, but thanks to the productivity of positive psychology, we now have more knowledge of how people can live a meaningful life. For example, personal goal setting goal attainment plans clearly help people gain a sense of direction and a sense of purpose in life. When our goals are self endorsed, wellbeing is enhanced.
00:31:19:03 - 00:32:00:03
Unknown
The primary premise of concordant goals and self-determination theory. Furthermore, engaging in life, crafting an activity focused on cultivating meaningful goals in life allows us to take control of our life, increasing our performance and happiness. The study by nurturer and oysterman showed that children who were guided to visualize their future purpose driven self and experienced a connection between their current and adult future self, worked more and attained better school grades and children guided to experience low connection between current and adult future self impressive.
00:32:00:05 - 00:32:27:13
Unknown
But we can all imagine ourselves being successful. But this does not mean that we will find meaning in these actions. In further examination on how to create meaning, a review by Martello and Staeger, published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, examining the defining elements of meaning in life, concluded that making meaning had three pillars coherence, purpose, and significance.
00:32:27:15 - 00:32:56:07
Unknown
In short, when we take charge of our goals and ensure that they are congruent with our values and lifestyle, hold meaning and are important. Individuals will have the highest subjective well-being, higher vitality, higher levels of meaningfulness, and lower symptoms of depression. For many, it might take a life changing or transformative experience to shake up our current reality and create more meaningful goals, or find a new purpose.
00:32:56:09 - 00:33:27:03
Unknown
These disorientating dilemmas, often found in events such as loss, trauma or stressful life transitions, whilst unearthing at the time can be very helpful for our life journey. However, we need not wait for or lean on such evoking experiences. Research suggests that a lack of meaning and purpose will often leave us dissatisfied with ourselves and our relationships, an effect that can be compounding.
00:33:27:05 - 00:33:52:14
Unknown
So every day is important. The message here is to keep thinking about our purpose in life, and the meaning we take from our actions at all stages of life, especially when we feel our goals need to be addressed. Specifically, Schippers and Ziegler in their article Life Crafting is a way to Find Purpose and meaning in life. Suggest seven tips one.
00:33:52:14 - 00:34:34:15
Unknown
Discover our values and passion to reflect on current and desired competencies and habits. Three. Reflect on present and future social life. Four reflect on a possible future career. Five. Write about the ideal future. Six. Write down specific goal attainment and if then plans. And seven. Make public commitments to the goals set. This process offers a structured methodology to life crafting, allowing us to make more meaning and clear a purpose in our lives.
00:34:34:16 - 00:34:55:04
Unknown
I'll never be happy with my ability. I'll only be happy with the rate at which it's progressing and what I meant by that was that I'll never be at a point like relating specifically to Pako, for example, I'll never be a point at which I. I'm like, God, I'm really happy with the level that I am. You know?
00:34:55:04 - 00:35:17:08
Unknown
I couldn't dream of being any better. Whatever. This is really like the level that I always set out to be. And now I'm here and I've made it. You never feel that way. I'll get fleeting happiness from having achieved something that previously wasn't achievable for me. But the real long term fulfillment always comes from just noticing that I am progressing, not ever being happy with the current state that I'm occupying.
00:35:17:09 - 00:35:42:16
Unknown
It's the movement that provides the fulfillment. Not, staying in a place, even if that place is a good place. Being still always results in stagnation. The most important thing I feel I could bestow on an earlier version of myself, or someone who hasn't thought about the same things, is really just the idea of saying a vision and breaking it down to the point that you have something to do right now.
00:35:42:18 - 00:36:12:08
Unknown
It's that process that allows for that consistent thread to be allowed to run through the entirety of your life from the thing that you're doing in the present moment, to some great idea of a sheet. You go is absolutely the thing that I feel has changed my life and has provided me with just much greater sense of meaning and allowed for me to achieve in a way that I didn't have the capacity to before.
00:36:12:08 - 00:36:44:03
Unknown
I think that it is the development of of that process that has, has really made the biggest difference to me. All right. Well, thank you very much for your time, Joseph. It's been a pleasure. We've talked about, flow being a point of meaning and engagement, as well as the focus on purpose and meaning to to kind of engineer flow and, and the process of finding that whilst still achieving, you know, many goals that we want and the process of breaking down into smaller objectives.
00:36:44:04 - 00:37:08:18
Unknown
It's been, certainly interesting for me and hopefully, hopefully fruitful for those listening. If anyone wants to find out a bit more about you, which I wholeheartedly encourage, just watching, some of Joseph's videos is amazing and inspiring. And what's the best place for them to meet you or check you out? Instagram is the best place. I think everything else that I do through, Instagram.
00:37:08:20 - 00:37:54:13
Unknown
My handle is at Joseph Tendo. So any anyone that's interested in learning more can go through their time to flip the mike. Do you have a process for, redirecting yourself and how do you manage to, effectively integrate? Well, I suppose turn your life into, you know, I think when I'm off track, it's generally because I'm consumed by what I think other people require of me, or what other people think of me, or what I think I should be doing in the eyes of others, or in the eyes of humanity or society, or it's always coming from a place of fear, always coming from that place of I'm not there yet in this imaginary
00:37:54:13 - 00:38:21:00
Unknown
place that I've made up that I think I should be. But when I'm kind of coming from a place of an internal inspiration, personally being inspired, then things tend to flow. And I and, you know, my process very much is just to disconnect from the life in the world. And, you know, if I'm kind of find myself deep in those other places, then total disconnect.
00:38:21:00 - 00:38:38:12
Unknown
You know, I go, I go surfing, I get into the wilderness like I unplug and I get back to who I am and my kind of quick version of that is to always watch a sunset kind of sunrise. And I can be transported sort of very quickly. And that kind of triggers for me. But I also have kids in it.
00:38:38:12 - 00:39:27:16
Unknown
Just having a random 32nd play with one of them suddenly resets. Everything that I saw was important to what actually is important where there's there, as that initial experience and focus on connection and meaning and engagement and love and to sail meant. And when I have those experience says all the kind of the achievements and meticulous that have been maybe occupying my mind that in the day suddenly become into insignificance and not in insignificance, as in I shouldn't do them, but more the stress around them become insignificant, and my kind of consciousness as being consumed about them becomes insignificant, which ironically frees me up to actually focus on just getting done a lot quicker, making
00:39:27:16 - 00:39:46:18
Unknown
decisions and choosing direction from a point of inspiration rather than from a point of fear. Yeah, I often call it my true north, and I makes it in other people, you know, when they have a very sort of focused tree north, then their decision making becomes just easy because it's, you know, which option is most aligned with my tree knows that one.
00:39:46:22 - 00:40:06:15
Unknown
Okay. And so it becomes a simple process rather than an agonizing scenario that we think about or emotions start welling up about. Thank you very much for for having me. It's been really fascinating for me. I appreciate you having me on and and taking the time to to talk through some of these interesting ideas with me. Great stuff.
00:40:06:21 - 00:40:21:01
Unknown
Thank you very much. Flow unleashed. If you would like to find out more about Joseph Henderson and his amazing movies, please see the show notes.
00:40:21:03 - 00:40:52:01
Unknown
Thank you for listening to Flow Unleashed. If you enjoyed listening, please subscribe to get notified when our next episode drops. The more people that subscribe. The better I can make the show for you equally. Please leave a review. Your review will go a long way to helping others. Find this spot. Until the next time. Thank you for listening to Flo Unleashed.