Latest / ZoukNerds • Learn | Build | Belong / Stop the Plateau: How to Know You’re Improving (S05 Ep80)

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Stop the Plateau: How to Know You’re Improving (S05 Ep80) · ZoukNerds • Learn | Build | Belong

0:00
For me, the way that I try to keep a record of things is by
0:05
having videos, by dancing with different people, by taking
0:07
classes and really going back to it and analyzing.
0:11
Think it's important to celebrate when you realize it
0:13
got better at something? Here's the thing, guys.
0:16
It's good when your teacher says you're getting better, yes, but
0:20
it's very dangerous when we're only seeking validation
0:23
externally. So my getting better is more
0:27
measured in the sense of how much more I feel confident.
0:32
That's essentially lyrical music.
0:33
It's not easy, no. If we are in a position that
0:36
we're struggling, we need help. But sometimes getting better at
0:39
something, or the movement to start to get better at something
0:42
is to become aware of something new.
0:44
Make sure that you don't just think I want to be good.
0:48
Think about the things that you want to be good and give each
0:51
thing that you want to be good at.
0:53
Deliberate practice. 99% of the times the issue is fixed like
0:58
this just because the gave that one thing enough attention and
1:02
maybe it's not fixed but it's improved.
1:04
So give yourself a real chance to get better.
1:10
Are you actually improving or just repeating the same
1:14
mistakes? How do you measure progress when
1:17
you feel stuck or plateaued in your dancing and why?
1:22
Tracking your progress and asking the right wise can turn
1:26
frustrations into massive wins. Well, let's find out.
1:31
Hello Hello everyone and welcome back to Zook Nerds.
1:35
In this episode, Guy and I dig into how to know if you are
1:39
getting better. We'll share simple ways to track
1:43
your growth, why external praise can be a validation trap, and
1:48
the power of deliberate practice to fix specific issues like
1:52
balance or timing. Let's learn how to celebrate
1:56
these small wins and find happiness in your progress.
2:00
So let's go. Hello, hello everyone.
2:12
My name is Alison Sanji and let's welcome back our amazing
2:16
Co host GI Prada. Hello, GI.
2:19
Hello, Alison. Hello, everybody.
2:21
Welcome back. In this episode, we want to
2:24
discuss how to know if we're getting better.
2:29
Does it get better? How does it get better?
2:32
How do we progress? How do we even quantify it?
2:37
In our dance journey? This is something that we go
2:40
through every now and then as dancers, as teachers, as
2:46
organizers, and we hear a lot from our students.
2:50
How do we measure? How do we even compare in a
2:55
positive way, not in a negative way, if we're doing better?
3:00
I think this is tough. This is tough because in my
3:03
personal journey, I've always been kind of like outside of the
3:08
mainstream per SE. I've kind of follow my own path.
3:12
So it's hard for me to compare. But at the same time, it's a
3:16
good thing because I don't have something to compare.
3:19
But for me, the way that I try to keep a record of things is by
3:24
having videos, by dancing with different people, by taking
3:28
classes and really going back to it and analyzing.
3:32
Because very, very often when I student come to me and says,
3:36
hey, Anderson, I don't think I'm getting better.
3:39
I don't know what's going on. My dancing is stuck.
3:42
I go to them and I say, hey, do you remember 6 months ago when
3:46
you were struggling with this? Do you remember 12 months ago
3:49
when you were doing this course and you couldn't understand this
3:53
part? And now you do them and you
3:55
don't even think about it. So often we are not in a
3:59
position to actually know it until we either see a video of
4:04
ourselves dancing or we ask somebody.
4:07
Just yesterday, I was talking to a student and they sent me a
4:10
message and saying, oh, Alison, I just want to thank you for all
4:14
the classes that you've been teaching us here.
4:17
I know that sometimes I don't feel like I'm getting better,
4:21
but just last week I was looking at some of the videos from last
4:26
year before I started attending your classes, and then I
4:30
realized, wow. I have.
4:32
Really, really improved in many things that I didn't even
4:36
realize, and I'm not really Tooting my own horn here, but
4:41
what I'm trying to say is that yes, it always gets better.
4:47
Even if it's 0.1% a day, it gets better.
4:51
So we do have to have a little systems that we can help
4:56
ourselves understand and measure how we're getting better.
5:01
Do you have something like that? D Do you follow a certain
5:05
system, or do you rely on anything that helps you realize
5:09
what's going on in your progression?
5:11
Yeah, I have some sort of challenges that if I'm learning
5:16
a new thing, there is a challenge that I create.
5:18
So for example, I know a circuit or a sequence, a combination of
5:22
things and observe how much or how easier I'm going through
5:29
this sequence, this thing and these existing several aspects
5:33
of my life. So for example, anytime you want
5:36
to create a habit, you need to stay consistent on that habit.
5:39
So for example, waking up and then taking a shower and then
5:45
writing a journal and then exercising.
5:48
So tracking the days in which be able to do that and tracking the
5:52
days that you were skipping and establishing what would be.
5:56
For me, I think it's important to know what is the getting
6:00
better, getting better at what, getting better at what thing.
6:04
And for me in this situation of the habits, I want to get better
6:08
at creating a habit. I want to get better at having a
6:11
habit in the first place, so I am tracking how well I'm
6:15
following this habit and just realizing that now I don't need
6:21
to sort of force myself into the habit.
6:24
It's just happens. I wake up and I go straight to
6:26
the shower. Then I go straight and I sit in
6:28
a journal. It becomes process.
6:31
So getting better can be that for me.
6:34
So I'm basically tracking this thing.
6:36
There is the getting better in the language, for example.
6:39
And for me, I track the getting better in the language by how
6:42
much more I'm able to understand the language and having in mind
6:46
the reference points. The reference point that I have
6:48
is the beginning, how it was in the beginning and how it is now
6:54
and then realizing, wow, I know so much more now and celebrating
6:58
that. I think it's important to
6:59
celebrate when you realize it got better at something and in
7:04
the dance, they're getting better is really specific.
7:09
I try to have the better related to a very specific thing.
7:13
I'll give an example. I want to get better at dance to
7:16
completely lyrical music. I play a very lyrical song and I
7:21
realize how hard it is for me to express myself with the
7:25
movements that I know to that song.
7:28
And then that becomes a reference point.
7:31
I'm like, OK, I'm going to dance to that song again like a couple
7:35
months from now, a couple weeks from now, and then see how I
7:38
express myself in that song again.
7:41
And it's very related to the feeling of ease and confidence
7:47
to go through something that was otherwise challenging.
7:51
Dancing to lyrical music. What was the challenge thing?
7:53
The movements that I know how to do, they were not matching the
7:58
melody or matching the vibe. So then I go ahead and learn new
8:02
movements. She'll be able to address that.
8:05
So what do I do? I look for reference points.
8:09
So I watch other people dancing. I realize how they're doing the
8:12
things. And then I try to get inspired
8:14
by that and copy some of these things and then bring to me
8:18
apply. So am I getting better is more
8:22
measured in the sense of how much more I feel confidence
8:29
dancing to lyrical music? That's an example.
8:31
For example, I remember when I was training all the had moving
8:36
possibilities with footwork, reversing, turning, walking
8:41
around, all these things I remember doing for the first
8:43
time. I remember very clearly, I was
8:47
with Brenda in her seats in Manaus in the gym of her
8:50
building, and she was showing me the lateral with the head motion
8:54
and reversing the lateral with the head motion.
8:57
And then I tried for the first time, disaster, almost fell on
9:00
the ground, couldn't do it, you know.
9:03
And then that became the thing, I will get better at this thing
9:08
when I'm able to do the lateral and all the reverses, keep the
9:11
head movement going and not lose balance.
9:14
And that's how it goes. There's something that I didn't
9:16
know how to do and then I know how to do The thing is keeping
9:21
track and keeping the awareness alive that now I can do this so
9:25
we can celebrate. As a teacher, I see people
9:29
getting better that sometimes they don't realize they're
9:32
getting better. They think they're still stuck.
9:35
So I think it's part of my profession, it's part of my job
9:38
to catch that person to say, do you realize how much better you
9:42
got from the start to now? And then I get to see people
9:46
say, oh really? Oh my God, I thought there was
9:49
something was happening even in the course of a weekend there.
9:53
I try to say people, when I do notice an improvement, I say
9:56
something like this, I wish I could see you with my eyes and
10:01
compared to how you were when we started this process and see how
10:06
much better you guys got in doing the specific things that
10:09
we are talking about. So that's what I would like the
10:13
better to be framed as. It's something that is more
10:16
specific that you didn't know how to do before and you want to
10:20
learn how to do it and then you realize that you are now able to
10:23
do it. So there's just three different
10:27
moments because probably I just saw you go through this
10:30
experience as well. When people come for private
10:32
lessons and you ask what would you like to work on?
10:34
They say I'd like to get better. And the the question I ask is
10:38
what is getting better for you? And then many times, I would say
10:43
the majority of times, people need to think a little bit and
10:47
realize what is it that they are talking about when they say I
10:50
want to get better. Yeah, it's getting better,
10:53
feeling more comfortable. It's getting better, feeling
10:57
more confident. It's getting better, getting
11:00
more invitations in the social. That's what I hear.
11:04
That's what I hear a lot. Yeah, most of the times people
11:07
say I just want more people to invite me to dance in the
11:10
social. But here's the thing, guys,
11:13
that's good. Yes.
11:15
Also, it's good when your teacher says you're getting
11:18
better. Yes, but it's very dangerous
11:21
when we're only seeking out our validation externally.
11:27
It's very dangerous when you rely on other people to give you
11:31
that validation. That's why we want to talk about
11:34
this here. And I think habit tracking is a
11:37
great way to do this, right? So if you can track your habits,
11:42
like Kii said, for example, I have gotten rid of many habits
11:47
over the years and I usually use an app that tracks my habit.
11:52
So everyday I get a little reminder of like, did you do
11:56
this today? Yes.
11:58
Was it easy? Not today.
12:00
Today was not easy. How did you feel when doing that
12:04
habit? I felt like uninspired.
12:08
I felt like it was a task. But then the next day, did you
12:12
do it? Yes.
12:14
Was it easy? Yeah.
12:16
Not bad. How did you feel it?
12:18
Well, I felt satisfied. I felt accomplished.
12:22
I'm not really super excited. So kind of like keeping tracks
12:27
and I'm going to share something very personal here. 10 plus
12:31
years ago, I was going through a very, very difficult breakup.
12:35
For me, it was really a shift on how my life was and how I
12:41
identified myself as a person. And I got to a point that it was
12:47
so difficult for me to move on that I got this little paper, a
12:53
calendar sort of thing with the dates of the month.
12:57
And my task was to put a little tick for yes or cross X for no
13:05
on the days that I felt good about my life or that I felt bad
13:10
about my life and the situation that I was in.
13:13
I don't think I need to tell you that the first week or two was
13:16
more access than ticks. It was absolutely that.
13:21
But the moment that there were progressively more yes days than
13:28
no days, something shifted. And from then on, I never looked
13:33
back. There was a shift of just seeing
13:37
more yeses than Nos. That gave me an inspiration, a
13:41
sense of accomplishment, and a sense of like, oh, I'm doing
13:46
this. Yes, I'm capable.
13:49
When maybe like 3 weeks ago I was just like hopeless guys.
13:54
Honestly. It was a very, very strong shift
13:56
in my life during this breakup. And I hope you haven't had this
14:00
in your life, but when you go through a breakup like that, you
14:03
really feel like there's nothing next week, right?
14:06
It can be that bad. And for me it was that bad.
14:09
Now we can do that through dance like he said.
14:13
We can go like, OK, I'm going to go to a social and at the end of
14:18
the social, I'm going to write down how easy it was for me to
14:24
ask people to dance from zero to 10.
14:27
How easy it was for me to enjoy most of the songs, how easy it
14:32
was for me to feel relaxed in my body.
14:35
And you can keep track of that and look back, Wow, Over the
14:40
last few months, I feel like I'm enjoying the music more.
14:43
And then you go back into your notes and you see, wow, yes,
14:47
actually I am enjoying the music more because when I was in that
14:50
moment in that vibe, I was. And I told myself that I was.
14:54
Often we get into this place of questioning when we're not
14:58
feeling good about something, and then suddenly we think that
15:02
everything else is not as good as it actually is.
15:06
Just because one thing is not very good, you just think that
15:09
everything else automatically is not that good.
15:11
So it's good to have some sort of habit tracking.
15:15
Yes, you can take private lessons.
15:17
You can go to the group classes and ask your teacher, ask other
15:20
people. But I think it's dangerous when
15:23
you only rely on the outside validation.
15:26
Please make sure that you have some sort of habit tracking for
15:30
yourself. Now for those of you who are in
15:34
a community where maybe you don't have those many socials or
15:38
classes to attend and you're training by yourself or learning
15:41
through online classes, you can still do that.
15:45
You can go like, OK, I'm going to do one minute of dancing to
15:48
this song and I'm going to just feel how it is to keep good
15:54
timing, to keep good balance, and then I'm going to write some
15:58
notes, OK? Today my balance was A7.
16:01
My timing, I feel like it was a 7.
16:04
And if you don't know, record a video, watch back, OK?
16:08
It's not easy. I'm not telling you that you're
16:10
just going to wake up and everything's going to be fine.
16:12
No, if we are in a position that we're struggling, we need help.
16:17
Sometimes getting help is not easy, and often times having the
16:23
discipline to have that habit of keeping track is even harder.
16:28
So yes, habit tracking, reporting and reviewing is the
16:34
best way. And lastly, never think that
16:38
anything should be the final product.
16:40
I learned something from a book that I read a couple of years
16:43
ago, which kind of helped me change my mindset of being a
16:47
perfectionist person. When you're developing things,
16:52
just treat them as drafts. This is draft one, draft 2.
16:56
Today we are in draft 80 of season 5 because this is our
17:02
80th episode of the season. I'm not thinking that by hundred
17:07
we're going to be perfect podcasters and we're going to
17:10
blow up on social media. No, I'm not thinking that.
17:12
I'm just thinking that today this draft is going to be better
17:15
than the other and I can track that because I added the videos.
17:20
So I know how much better we are getting at expressing our ideas,
17:25
how much better we are getting at non stuttering or repeating
17:30
the words and things like that. Because I'm forced to look at
17:35
our habits when I'm editing and that helps me to get better so
17:40
much. The things that we have improved
17:43
here over the last year in this podcast, I feel very proud
17:48
because I have this point of reference because I have this
17:52
thing that shows me. So I think this is a huge thing.
17:55
Guys have some sort of system? I would say combine with the
18:01
system. Have some specific name what you
18:05
want to get better at. For me it's the string that
18:09
connects everything. Naming the thing you want to get
18:12
better at and make it less general basically.
18:15
Just basically make it less general.
18:17
Narrow it down because getting better is somewhat of a
18:22
subjective concept at times if you don't have an idea of what
18:27
you're getting better. For example, as you guys know, I
18:31
really love the basics in Brazilian Zook and I try to
18:33
explore them to its maximum and getting better at basics.
18:39
So when I say I want to get better at basics like right now,
18:42
in your mind, what does that mean?
18:43
I want to get better at basics. So when I talk to the other
18:50
teachers, when I talk to people that have been dancing for a
18:53
long time, they often say I want to get better at basics.
18:57
And when they are teachers, they often say I want people to see
19:01
how good the basics are, how amazing they can be.
19:05
I want them to get better at basics.
19:07
And then I ask, what does that mean?
19:10
Do you want them to get better in the execution of the basics?
19:13
So they want them to do a better Vita gene to a better basic
19:17
front and back? Or do you want them to get
19:21
better basics by doing them more confidently, not thinking that
19:26
they are boring their partners to death because they are just
19:29
doing what they're all simple turn VRG?
19:32
Or getting better basics mean learning more variations in the
19:35
basics so you can explore them more or getting better the
19:39
basics meaning all these things combined.
19:42
You know what I mean? So it's such a even when we say
19:45
I want to get better at basics, there are so many things that
19:49
are possible in this realm of getting I want to get better
19:52
head movements. What does that mean?
19:54
You want to get better in the basic execution of the head
19:56
movements. You want to be able to do
19:58
Morehead movements. You want to be able to do the
20:00
tricky head movements. You want to be able to create
20:02
your own. What does it get better head
20:04
movements mean to you? Cool.
20:06
So that would be the invitation. Like what is it?
20:12
And inside of the what is it? What is it?
20:14
What is it, you know, like as the thing inside for me, they're
20:19
getting better at basics, worse related to the use of them.
20:23
How can I use the basics in a way that they feel complete and
20:27
enough in a dance so I can just do that and the whole dance is
20:31
going to feel amazing. So I needed to understand
20:34
variations, learn about variations, research them, the
20:38
execution and the feeling. I want the feeling of doing the
20:43
basics to be amazing. So worked a lot on the comfort
20:47
of the execution, not on the precision, but also the comfort
20:51
combined with variations. So then I feel that I got better
20:54
basics because when I'm social dancing and I'm just doing the
20:58
basics, they feel enough. I can just do them and the
21:03
confidence doesn't drop. Actually, it increases because
21:07
it feels so good to me. And I observed my partner and
21:11
because of the feedback loop and the exchange, I can relate that
21:15
with their partner. It's feeling good too.
21:17
And then we have that exchange. So it's also a matter of
21:25
embodiment as well, like you perceiving in yourself this
21:30
increased confidence in something that before you
21:34
weren't as much like Alison was saying, so don't.
21:37
You don't rely so much on external validation.
21:40
You understand and you feel that it got better at something
21:44
because you feel that it got better at something.
21:47
Sometimes our feeling can be a little excuse.
21:50
We think we got better at Sophie and we as teachers now.
21:54
So we sometimes have this experience where the person who
21:58
comes to us, no, but I got better at this thing and then we
22:02
dance with them and say no, you didn't.
22:05
So there is this matter of sometimes our own experience of
22:10
the thing that we think we got better at can be deceiving.
22:14
So I put some markers, for example, my balance.
22:18
How balance do I feel while doing the thing?
22:20
How in control do I feel while doing the thing?
22:24
Give yourself some challenges. Can I do this very slow?
22:27
Can I do this super fast? Can I do this and at any point
22:31
stop and feel good, You know, creating some ways to verify how
22:38
much have you mastered the thing that you want to get better at?
22:42
For example, in English, simply expressing myself, conveying
22:47
certain ideas. Five years ago, I wouldn't be
22:50
able to convey the ideas in the way that I'm able to convey now.
22:52
So I got better English podcasting in our first podcast,
22:58
a lot of filler words and UNS and UNS.
23:01
And you know, so we realized we got better at podcasting because
23:06
our speaking is more flowy. We are not scared of making
23:10
stops. We're not scared of pausing, so
23:14
we don't need to feel the words and so on.
23:16
Right, Alison? So there's a lot of improvements
23:20
that you might not be aware of, you might be losing track of.
23:24
But when you connect and you realize, Oh my God, now I can
23:29
convey a whole idea without, without this feel of words.
23:35
So that's a win. Yeah.
23:38
Such a big win. Makes my life so much easier
23:41
when I'm editing. Yes, Oh dear, yes, yes, yes.
23:49
But yes, guys, I would like to suggest and encourage you to use
23:54
a little system that I have for myself, which is the 5 levels of
23:59
why? What is that?
24:02
So whenever I have something I want to understand a little bit
24:06
more about, whether it's in my life or I'm helping somebody, I
24:12
try to ask why. And then after I got that
24:16
answer, I ask the why for that answer.
24:19
And then I follow 5 levels at least.
24:23
Sometimes it goes longer, but I think if you can get to 5,
24:27
you're going to get to a place where you haven't been before.
24:31
I promise. Sometimes by the third why, you
24:34
already have a breakthrough and you'll go like, Oh my God, This
24:38
is why all of these things were in my head and I've been feeling
24:42
this way and it's very difficult, very difficult to get
24:46
to 5 whys and to even get to 10 whys.
24:49
It's kind of therapeutical and scary sometimes because you have
24:56
to be honest with yourself what comes into your head first.
25:00
You have to write down. You can't go like, oh, I thought
25:03
about this. Oh, no, it's not that.
25:05
No, it can't be that. No, you have to be honest.
25:08
You have to promise. I'm going to write the first
25:12
thing that comes into my head. I'm not going to judge it.
25:15
I'm just going to write it down. Why do you want to get better at
25:18
head movements? Because I want to be more
25:20
comfortable with my partners. Why do I want to be more
25:23
comfortable with my partners? Because I want more of them to
25:26
smile when they dance with me. Why do I want them to smile more
25:31
when they dance with me? Because that makes me feel like
25:35
I'm a better dancer. Why do I want to make myself
25:38
feel like I'm a better dancer? Because that gives me more
25:41
confidence. Now you understand why you want
25:45
to get better. Head movement like this could be
25:48
different for you, but you have to automatically let yourself
25:54
give the answer without judging, without thinking too much.
25:57
This is something that I do with my teams, with my students.
26:00
Sometimes we're thinking about, oh, we should add this for
26:04
Berzooki, or we should do this for Zuk nerds.
26:07
And then I'm like, OK, sure, but why?
26:10
And I'm never arguing. They got used to it.
26:14
It's just because I want to understand.
26:16
And then I ask why again and why again and why again?
26:21
And once you understand that this is just a curiosity and
26:24
research to really get to the bottom of it, you're not going
26:28
to see that as argumentative or somebody doesn't trust your
26:32
words or they're questioning what you're even talking about.
26:38
You know, maybe you have some traumas in your life and this is
26:42
going to come up because you go like, oh, every time, you know,
26:46
my partner or my parents asked me why they're judging me,
26:49
please don't go there. Just see, this is a very safe
26:53
space for you to really dig deep into why you need or you want
26:58
certain things. And this for me, it helps me so
27:03
much on a daily basis. Yeah, I've seen this exercise
27:07
before done somewhere and the facilitator were saying is after
27:14
this many layers of Y, you find a core.
27:17
So like you find a core value and find the thing that is
27:20
driving everything else. And sometimes working on the
27:24
core value is the work that you actually want, but there's all
27:30
these layers on top of it that we think is the thing, right?
27:34
A lot of the times the layer don't come from us, they come
27:37
from outside perspectives, expectations or things that
27:40
people told you. Why do you want to get better at
27:43
movements? Well, because you're not a good
27:45
Zook dancer if you don't like, so you put that on yourself, but
27:49
that's not your reason. You don't want to impress
27:52
anybody. You just want to feel confident
27:54
or you just want to feel like this is something that you've
27:58
been struggling with a lot. So going deep down into the wise
28:03
is a great tool. And please, one thing that I
28:07
want to say, don't judge yourself too much if you don't
28:12
get to the Y. It takes time.
28:15
Sometimes you're only really going to understand the why.
28:17
Maybe the fifth time that you do this, maybe the first session is
28:22
not there and you're just like, OK, grab that paper, put it
28:25
away, come back next week and do the same exercise or come back
28:29
tomorrow or later in the day. And then at some point you're
28:33
going to have that breakthrough. But again, it's a habit tracking
28:36
thing. It's a discipline thing.
28:38
You can expect to improve if you keep doing the same thing, so
28:44
stick to it and you'll see results.
28:47
Yeah, it's a little bit of shadow work sometimes there.
28:50
Why? You know, when you dig in like
28:53
that and you investigate your own reasoning for things,
28:56
sometimes you might not like the reason that is driving you to
29:00
want to do something right. I remember we talked about some
29:04
episodes ago the idea of defensive teaching when we teach
29:09
based on the fear that certain things come to place, right.
29:13
So we teach a certain way because we want to retain the
29:15
students, prepare them for the social and keep them engaged.
29:19
Whereas if you were to teach the way that we really like to teach
29:22
and then what you would like to teach would perhaps be something
29:25
entirely different. So sometimes when you say I want
29:30
to get better head movements, guys, we're just using head
29:32
movements as an example, OK, Don't come, you know, Oh my
29:35
gosh, I didn't move better or better.
29:37
No, we're just using as an example.
29:40
And an example that I think comes to maybe 90% of the
29:43
private license to be honest, we're head movements because
29:46
it's also a statistics, OK. They show up and sometimes if we
29:52
do this exercise, why you want to have movements and the reason
29:55
is because people are doing them in the socials and I want to
29:58
survive. You not necessarily would want
30:03
to learn the head movements. It's like I think you got to
30:06
learn otherwise you won't enjoy or people won't enjoy dancing
30:11
with you. And just by understanding this
30:15
core reason why you want to get better at something, this alone
30:19
feels with more motivation to learn the thing in the 1st
30:22
place. So let's say for example you
30:23
come to the class and say I want to get better head movements and
30:27
then why? Why, why, why, why?
30:29
I want to be more confident. Wow.
30:31
That's the reason I want to be more confident.
30:34
You know, then you were fueled by the power that comes from
30:38
this. You know, this value of feeling
30:41
more confident and also will guide the teaching and the
30:45
learning in a different way because you learn the technique
30:49
of the head movement can make you feel more confident because
30:52
you know it better and therefore you are more confident.
30:57
But sometimes that confidence can come from a different Ave.
31:01
can come from like learning how not to do something or learning
31:06
more about your balance, your structure.
31:10
You know, it's a very interesting thing.
31:12
I think we should do this more often in private lessons of
31:15
investigating the why somebody wants to get better at
31:18
something. And in that topic of getting
31:22
better, guys, I think we could also get better at following
31:27
subscribing your favorite podcast.
31:30
Yeah, I would love to see more of you with us.
31:35
And if you want to follow the contents and get the
31:38
notifications, follow subscribing whatever platform
31:42
that you are listening or watching us.
31:45
Yes, please do us a favor and help us grow this beautiful Zook
31:50
Nerds podcast and community, and we promise that we couldn't be
31:54
here every week delivering something for you and hopefully
31:59
helping you, your community, and the entire zoo community grow.
32:05
Yes. And I wanted to say one more
32:07
thing as an exercise for you to listen to the episodes is
32:13
deciding the thing that you want to get better at and be very
32:17
specific with that thing. Let's say I want to get better
32:20
with the basics and then decide get better at what in the
32:24
basics, the execution of the basics, variation of the basics,
32:28
the feeling of doing the basics, how your basics look like, there
32:31
are possible things, and then do the why work.
32:35
Why do I want to get better at the basics and understanding the
32:39
reasoning behind it. And then you track the progress
32:43
like this. So you think about, for example,
32:47
changing the direction of the basic or you play the song very
32:51
fast or playing the song really slow.
32:54
You travel with this basic. How can I travel with this
32:57
basic? So then you start to realize
32:59
your shortfalls. You realize, oh, I can change
33:02
direction to the left. When I go to the right, I have
33:05
no idea what my body is doing. So let me work with change
33:09
direction to the right side. I can travel forwards, but it's
33:12
hard to travel backwards. What do I do to travel backwards
33:15
in this thing? And then you go tracking and
33:18
understanding that you are getting better at this different
33:22
set of skills inside the thing you want to get better at.
33:27
So for example, for me, I'm studying Chinese, Mandarin
33:31
Chinese, and I have a reference point for me to get Better,
33:35
which is a podcast in Chinese that I listen to.
33:39
My Getting Better is how much of it can I understand every time I
33:42
listen to it. So right now I'm at a point of
33:45
understanding the words for not understanding the syntax.
33:48
But sometimes I get the syntax and when I get a syntax, I
33:53
understood that, understood that.
33:54
And while I'm in translating the thing I understood, we already,
33:58
you know, so far forward. But I have a way in my head that
34:03
I'm tracking progress in this thing that I want to get better
34:06
at. So my invitation to you is to
34:10
the same with our Brazilians. Look the sides, break it down,
34:15
find AY and track and let us know later.
34:19
How was this experience? Yes, this reminds me of a book
34:23
that I love so much that is called Peak P/E AK that talks
34:28
about neuroplasticity and talks about deliberate practice.
34:33
Make sure that you don't just think I want to be good.
34:37
Think about the things that you want to be good and give each
34:41
thing that you want to be good at.
34:43
Deliberate practice. So if you want to get better at
34:47
balance, don't just go to the social and think I'm going to
34:50
get better at balance. Actually do drills and exercises
34:54
and things that helps you get better and balance.
34:57
If you want to get better at musicality, just going and
35:01
dancing is not going to be enough.
35:05
You need to also listen to more music consciously and feel it
35:09
and dance by yourself. You need to study music
35:12
structure a little bit. You need other tools that is
35:16
going to help you get to that place.
35:19
Often times we just want to practice everything at the same
35:23
time. I want to get better at balance,
35:25
musicality and creativity. So then you just go and you're
35:30
doing all of these at the same time, but none of them are in a
35:35
way that you can track in a way that you can see the
35:38
progression. And that's usually where people
35:41
feel like they plateau. They feel like they're not
35:44
getting better because they've learned so much, they've trained
35:48
so hard, and they don't see the improvement.
35:52
Yes, you're always improving. Like we've said before, you're
35:54
always improving, but if you want to see more deliberate
35:58
improvement, more specific improvement, then you need more
36:02
deliberate practice, more specific practice.
36:06
You can just think that attending to classes is going to
36:09
make your body more stable without giving a little bit more
36:13
attention to that. Even if you're at class
36:17
thinking, OK, I'm coming to class today and the whole class
36:21
I'm going to be paying attention to the teacher, but deep inside
36:24
I'm going to be focusing on my balance.
36:26
That already gives you that specific practice within the
36:30
class that you're taking, but I also recommend to do outside of
36:34
the class. But for those of you who may not
36:37
have the time or the discipline to do that, you can do that when
36:42
you're being instructor or when you go to a social.
36:45
I often ask students to spare maybe 30 minutes or one hour of
36:50
the social to focus on one thing.
36:52
Maybe in the first hour of the social, you think about touch.
36:56
I'm going to focus on how it feels every time I'm touching my
36:59
partner. Is the pressure consistent?
37:02
Not consistent? Am I losing the grip?
37:06
Does the change of grip feel natural or am I not even
37:09
thinking about it? How can I make them more
37:12
conscious or a little bit earlier?
37:15
Can you focus on that? You're still dancing, having
37:16
fun, Maybe nobody knows you're practicing, but there is a
37:20
little thing, just one small thing that you're paying
37:22
attention to. Don't give yourself too many
37:25
things. I'm going to focus on my
37:26
balance. Oh crap, we're doing head
37:28
movements. Oh, OK.
37:29
I need to focus on my head movement now because my teacher
37:31
told me to not break my neck. And then we go into La Tao and
37:35
searching. Oh crap, we're doing Wi-Fi now.
37:37
I need to focus on looking at my part.
37:39
No, let some of those things break so you can focus on one.
37:45
Really, really, really do that. I do that intentionally in
37:49
private lessons. I'll ask this unit, hey, we're
37:52
just going to focus in your balance now.
37:55
And I'm just going to dance with you and I'm going to do things
37:57
that are going to possibly challenge or intentionally break
38:02
your balance a little bit. And I want to know that you're
38:06
focusing on it and that you're going to be conscious about it
38:09
and understand what happened. 99% of the times the issue is
38:15
fixed like this just because they gave that one thing enough
38:19
attention. And maybe it's not fixed, but
38:22
it's improved. So give yourself a real chance
38:26
to get better, not by focusing on everything, but giving very
38:31
special moment for anything that you want to.
38:33
Do yeah, you said net is not fixed, but it's improved.
38:38
And even I think if it's not fixed or improved, you became
38:42
aware of it. And there for me sometimes is a
38:45
big win. Yesterday, even in a private
38:48
lesson, we realized that the issue was timing.
38:53
The person thought it was their balance, but what was throwing
38:56
them off balance was timing. So what did we do?
39:01
We worked on slowing down and stopping, slowing down and
39:05
stopping. And every time we slow down and
39:08
stop, they would do, oh really? Oh my gosh, OK.
39:12
And then the second time, oh really up to the point that, and
39:15
this often happens, they eat and then go back.
39:19
They realize and then go back. They realize and then go back.
39:22
So awareness is developing. Sometimes getting better at
39:27
something or the movement to start to get better at something
39:30
is to become aware of something new.
39:34
So sometimes you are aware you want to get better at balance
39:37
and then you find a teacher and the teacher says your balance is
39:41
good. What is throwing off balance is
39:44
your timing. You're moving too fast through
39:46
the steps. And then, Oh my gosh, so it is
39:49
timing the end of the day. And then we focus on the timing.
39:52
We focus on weight distribution and all of that stuff.
39:56
You might not be able to fix and be balanced in that hour, in
40:02
that true hours, but you leave knowing.
40:06
That the thing you thought it was a problem is actually fine
40:08
is another thing that you felt it in your body.
40:11
So look for that awareness. Yeah, sometimes the teacher can
40:15
help. Sometimes your own observation
40:17
can help. Sometimes the video can help a
40:19
lot. Like we said before, I know it's
40:22
hard to watch yourself dancing sometimes, but it can be really
40:25
enlightening what you see and help from your friends, you
40:29
know, asking them what if you hear, what you notice here?
40:33
Sometimes that can be incredibly lightening as well.
40:36
There are tools available and putting your mind to it, like
40:40
Addison say intentional training, it can have like a
40:44
really powerful effects. And I guess this is your gentle
40:49
reminder that timing effects everything.
40:54
Absolutely everything, everything, everything,
41:00
everything. Can I say something real quick
41:01
about it? Like real quick something that
41:04
was really surprising. I think we talked about this in
41:07
the episode. We mentioned the phenomena of
41:10
neural coupling. And in the thing that I read
41:13
about it, it talks about connection between two human
41:16
beings and two human beings with dance.
41:19
And they say that the first element of connection is rhythm.
41:23
If the bodies are not in the same rhythm, even if you have
41:27
the eye to eye the connection of the hands and everything is
41:30
happening, you have the exchange.
41:31
If we are off in the rhythm, the connection doesn't happen.
41:35
So even as a core element of connection, the timing is there.
41:41
Discarding timing is there. So people, work on your timing.
41:46
Tell us all very quick. We, our timing commander is
41:50
proudly so because we've seen it all and we know that timing is
41:55
something that is not just on your feet.
41:57
Timing over feet, knees, hips, upper body, arms, head.
42:01
Everything has timing, and now it's that timing of the episode
42:09
that we want to thank you once again for being here.
42:12
And like Guy said before, let's get better at following,
42:15
subscribing, sharing the episode so we can help you grow, help
42:21
the community grow, help the podcast grow.
42:25
And we will promise to continue doing better here for you guys
42:28
because we do a lot of deliberate practicing as we're
42:32
editing and discussing the topics.
42:35
So thank you. Thank you, everybody.
42:38
Beiges, Beiges, Abrasus and Ciao our people.