Today’s post inspired by the writings of Keith Norris at Theory to Practice, Ken O’Neill at Trans-Evolutionary Fitness, Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity, and apparently Woody Harrelson from Zombieland.

For the past two semesters I helped as a research assistant in a social psychology lab at UVa. While I learned a lot about psychology research from the experience, the most important lesson I took away is that I am not ready to commit to a Ph.D. program right now. Too much time spent indoors, head buried in books, stressing over numbers and theories, and not enough hands-on application, performance, moving, interaction, etc. Perhaps in the future a more fitting opportunity will show itself, but for now I will not be applying to any Ph.D. programs.

That said, it’s now time to “nut up or shut up” as Woody Harrelson so eloquently states in Zombieland. What do I mean by that? Consider Chris Guillebeau’s article “How to Put Off Making Decisions About Your Life”. Rather than applying for another program (like I did for UPenn’s MAPP), I am actually going to get the ball rolling on a series of ideas and projects that have been brewing for quite some time now. Long work: check. Hard work: on deck.

So here’s what we got:

• Compile a comprehensive collection of rudimental and rhythmic grids, to be published in a book for percussionists.
• Teach the drumlines at UVA, GMU, and Spirit of Atlanta, helping turn young men and women into mature performers and educators.
• Pursue my own education in movement, athletics, training, and fitness: CSCS, PICP, OPT CCP, FMS, RKC, Precision Nutrition, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, Rolfing, Z-Health, and any others I discover along the way.
• Help in the development and growth of CrossFit Charlottesville.
• Record albums, tour the country playing live shows, and produce genuine music with The Anatomy of Frank.

So the table is nice and full. I am looking forward to the PaleoFX12 Symposium in March in Austin, TX as well.

Lastly, I will leave you with a quote from Clifton Harski’s recent post “80/20” on his blog, Strong. Naturally:

I don’t like the minimal effective dose attitude at all. It annoys me. Why are we encouraging people to move as little as possible? We should be encouraging people to move as much as possible. I’m disinteresting in perpetuating a lazy, pathetic culture that wants easy minimal effort approaches to getting the things they want.

Thanks for reading,

Chris