What I meant to say... maybe.

Yesterday, I wrote the whole competence and consciousness thing.

What sparked yesterday's post, was reading Lou's latest book. In an innocuous little paragraph, he uses the word "training." I have a love/hate relationship with this word.

Currently, I'm not training. I work out. I don't have a problem with people using the term "training" when referring to what they do, but for me, it's not right. I'm not training for anything.

Gladiators trained to kick ass and kill the other guy.

Cavemen killed mastadons to get food. Each mastadon hunt left the surviving cavemen better prepared to kill the next mastadon.

I workout to get stronger and either leaner or bigger. So, I could say I'm training for fat loss or strength or size, but I don't. I like to use words that normal people use and in the ways that they use them. I'm not going to tell my coworkers that I'm heading to the gym to train.

Misc coworker -- "What are you training for, Roland?"

Me -- "Um..."

So, no... I workout. I'm going to the gym. I'm off to workout. These work.

What does all this have to do with consciousness and competence? Different words and different strategies work for people at different stages of consciousness and competence.

When I first started using TAP (Testosterone Advantage Plan is soooo much to type...), I said (only to myself) that I trained. I felt like I had a plan and a purpose. A good feeling and very motivational.

As I progressed, the term "training" sounded like something reserved for an athlete (don't even get me started on the 'we're all athletes" thing, either. Uh, no. We're not.). So, once again, I worked out. Still with purpose though.

Once, I signed up for a 10k. I trained for that. The USMC Bootcamp Challenge? Trained for that, too. If I ever sign up for something, I'll train for it. If I belonged to a gym or training group where we had ad hoc contests, I'd use the word "training" for that, too.

People get caught up in this weird word trap where they use words that motivate themselves to motivate others. Doesn't always work. We live in the real word, so use real world words and phrases, please. Your buddy can talk about his diet and not his lifestyle. I can workout and not have to train. I can try to lose weight, despite the fact that all I really want to do is lose fat. I can say something is hard to do without my use of the word "hard" making it harder than it should be.

Language is how we communicate with each other. We can strive to make it easier, but sometimes it seems like we strive to make it harder by nitpicking our word choices.

If you still don't see how this connects to yesterday, I'm right there with you. But, this is connected somehow. And, it's stuck in my head and won't come out.

I'll be back to try again...