OmegaWave and Alactic Intervals Discussions
It is very hard to “aggregate” information lately – some great stuff has been spars(ed) all around social media, sometimes hidden in small font comments. It would be great to have some aggregator of such quality posts and comments.
Anyway, I was a bit “moody” and agitated (or in “hate” mode) lately because I am a bit fed up with all this technology and marketing surrounding us and making it harder and harder to cut through the crap and to isolate the signal from the noise.
I’ve noticed among some of my peers (myself included), that sometimes we tend to negate the importance of certain things (be it technology, philosophies, methods and so forth), especially once we reach certain level of knowledge, that are “complex” or question our belief system. These “new” things sometimes demand further education, time investment, re-evaluation of our own belief/evidence system and most of the time demand for some financial expenses. We grow to be cautious and question all of these new things, groundbreaking, you-have-been-doing-it-wrong-all-the-time propaganda. Most of the time rightly so, but sometimes we miss real gems. Sometimes.
As a friend of mine Jovan Buha, S&C coach of Bayern Basketball Club, used to say: “These days it is more important to know what NOT to read, than what to read” (similar to “via Negativa” approach), it is very hard to make sense and think straight (and save your money) in this information overload world. Should we risk and become too confident that there is not much new and groundbreaking out there or should be developed “fear of missing out” and buy and read and invest in every e-book and gadget out there?
Honestly, I am struggling with this. I am interested in multiple things (coaching, sport science, data science and statistics, psychology, history, philosophy, martial arts…) and it seems that I get “agitated” by how much more I need to read/learn. Sometimes I (probably others, if they are willing to openly admit) solve this issue by degrading the new “source” as unnecessary. Sometimes this is a fluke but most of the time I might be right. Sometimes we just end up reading books, not because of positive attraction to them and knowledge, but because of “fear of missing out” (click HERE). It is getting harder and harder to leverage this “complementary aspect” of sharpen~saw
To cut the long story short, out of my agitation (not sure rightly so, or to protect my ignorance) I posted a couple of statuses on my Facebook wall that luckily ended up being a great source of information from the experienced guys commenting. You can find them at the bottom.
I might be seen as devil’s advocate because in a room full of coaches I will defend sports scientists, and in a room full of sports scientists I will quote Nassim Taleb and stress the importance of tinkering and artisans (coaches). I have always been like this – someone who wants to create more balance, sometimes stressing the opposing argument just for the sake of it. It is similar to these two posts and my recent social media activity. In some I attack sports scientists for their complete lack of connection to the real world and coaching practices and risks, and in some I attack ignorance of coaches who uses certain evidence that cannot be a sign of causality. Besides “living in the cave doesn’t make you a geologist”
This is just how my brain works. I hope some will not understand and most will not. That’s okay with me because if one doesn’t have any enemies he is probably doing something wrong.
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