“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.”
(Anthony J. D’Angelo)
One of the guiding principles we at OPEX preach to the masses is Teach, Learn, Move, Create (#teachlearnmovecreate).
These are four simple practices that can be performed daily and that have lasting benefit on your life. Let’s break each of these principles down and discover ways you can begin implementing them into your daily life, starting now.
TEACH (verb): to show or explain (to someone) how to do something.
This concept can be extrapolated across a wide array of disciplines. In the OPEX market, the idea of teaching translates to our fitness coaches who NEED to be teaching each day in order to improve and refine their craft. But what if you don’t work in the fitness industry or don’t see yourself as a teacher? That doesn’t mean you can’t teach every day. Whatever your occupation is, open up to seeing it as an avenue to help teach and inspire those with whom you interact daily.
For instance, parents might make it a daily task to teach and challenge your children each day with new and insightful material. This is a double win, because a large part of who we are as adults is a byproduct of what we learn and are exposed to at a young age.
Some might argue that they don’t have opportunity to teach. For instance, for people who work in cubicles, daily interaction might not be as high as for those who coach or interact with others for a living. Regardless, there are still moments of interaction (between you and customers or you and co-workers), and every time we have an interaction with another person, it’s an opportunity to teach…to help others grow as well as ourselves.
Start challenging yourself to expand your perspective around what “teaching” means towards the exchange of knowledge or insight between two people, and you’ll see there are opportunities to teach all around you. Regardless of what you do, make it a daily priority to show or explain something to someone, as this allows both of you to grow.
LEARN (verb): to gain or acquire knowledge or skill in (something) by study, experience, or being taught.
Learning is another invaluable task we can partake in each day to help us grow into who we were born to become. Pursuing a life of learning can lead to greater motivation to perform tasks, understand them, and refine them. It can “enhance our understanding of the world around us, provide us with more and better opportunities, and improve our quality of life.”
As our culture moves deeper into the technologically driven age, it’s easy to be pulled away from activities that make us stop, listen, think, and reflect. The main activity I’m referring to here is reading. In the past, literary accounts were often the only pieces of evidence and information that we received both about our past experiences and to inform us about current events. Now, with the rise in social media, online videos, audiobooks, kindles and other reading devices, reading to learn is becoming an afterthought.
There’s something meditative, almost magical, about sitting down with a piece of literature and diving into another person’s brain. If you want to recommit to learning in your life, set aside time each day to sit, uninterrupted, and read something that is of interest to you. A tangible goal to set might be aiming to read 10 pages per day, everyday. This equates to 300 pages read per month or twelve 300-page books read over the course of a year. Think about that! If you picked 12 books you wanted to read, but were fearful that you didn’t have time to dive into them, you now have a plan and an easy strategy to get you there. Ten pages per day, that’s it!
If reading isn’t your thing, that’s okay. Start setting aside time each day to expand your knowledge in some capacity that feels good to you.
MOVE (verb): to influence or prompt (someone) to do something. Take Action.
Moving each day is arguably the foundational point of the OPEX brand. We aim to inspire and teach others how to move their body each day in some way, shape, or form.
Some of the benefits of daily movement include:
- Moving blood helps with recovery and detoxing abilities
- Upregulating neurotransmitter formation for mental acuity and motivation
- The widely-known benefits of improving the cardiovascular system
- Strengthening the muscular and skeletal system for better longevity of life.
Now, when we think of daily movement, let’s not limit our thoughts to just aerobic- or strength-based training. We want to look at this concept from a much broader perspective and emphasize how “moving” each day–in whatever capacity you feel called to move—is crucial to your health. For instance, some great spring and summertime activities are: Swimming, Hiking, walking on the Beach, Mountain biking, Fly Fishing, Stand Up Paddle boarding, kayaking, Volleyball, Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, and Running outdoors.
It doesn’t really matter what you do. Just make it a goal to move–in some capacity–for at least 30 minutes each day.
CREATE (verb): to bring (something) into existence.
We receive inspiration from what we create with our minds and with our hands. In the context of the fitness coaches OPEX works with, we talk about creation in terms of creating individualized training programs each day for athletes and clients. This daily task of creations supports our coaches in refining their craft and becoming more proficient and intuitive over time. Similarly, each time you move into a space of creation in your own life, you’re honing your ability to create with ease and efficiency.
Think of unique ways in which you can create new and useful things each day:
- Cooking a meal for your family (or yourself)
- Coming up with a game or challenge for your children that engages them and makes them think critically
- Spending time journaling or mediating, creating space to allow your mind to open and refine itself
- Developing new ideas for your job or improved approaches to frameworks used in your office
- Painting or other artistic expression…a wonderful and often undervalued activity that allows you to express yourself and create something unique
It doesn’t matter what you make. Spend time each day creating something new, bringing something into existence.
Teach. Learn. Move. Create.
As we wrap up, I hope you’ll have noticed a trend: these four words are all verbs. It’s time to get active. It’s time to start living a larger life. Fill each day with intention and act upon the gift that is the present moment.
#teachlearnmovecreate
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