Coach Ted talks about committing to the process with complete intention and execution.
Singularity of Focus
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Singularity of Focus
Season 7/Episode 67
August 21, 2023
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Introduction:
Optimize your training. Optimize your nutrition. Optimize your life. This is The Ted O'Neill Program.
0:18 Ted
In Paraphysical training one of the Levers is a singularity of focus. So, there's three pieces to this on cultivating the focus to really execute. And I'd say that's dedication. That's commitment. And that's loyalty. We break those down. It's really a dedication to yourself, right? It's your commitment and your dedication to self, which would imply elevating your self-worth and choosing to demonstrate at a higher level. That's it. Right? That's that part. (Yeah) The commitment is to the process. It's adhering to the conditions and requirements of the outcome that you're seeking. That's the commitment. Loyalty, what's loyalty? The loyalty is to the path. So that staying the course listen to those words for six staying the course not? I initiated this course and I dabbled in these three other courses. (Yeah) staying the course. Meaning you keep a singularity of focus on that particular set of methods.
1:22 Jon
Yeah. You know, when I reminisce about the beginnings of that process, those first six to eight months a lot of that was in the Concord summer, and it was hot. And my training time wasn't always 5:30 in the morning.
1:38 Ted
The Concord summer for the uninitiated, can be rather hot, sometimes well over 100 degrees. (Yeah) And much of this training is taking place on an asphalt parking lot.
1:48 Jon
Right. That is, by the time afternoon rolls around, it has just been gathering and is now radiating heat.
1:55 Ted
Yeah. And then inside the gym is probably worse. (Yeah) Because after a couple of days of the sun hitting that slab of concrete that we're building. It's like you're in a little mini oven. But proceed, sir.
2:06 Jon
Yes. So, I remember though, for some reason, I just remember being close to the ground all the time, having to lift things, having to pull stuff, having to just be close to that hot asphalt. And I started to view it as a warm embrace.
2:26 Ted
I can see. You continue to take things that others might view as an adverse condition and you sacrifice your prior attachment to what those things meant and you create a new condition. We could also call that perspective shift. (Yeah) You change your perspective around your circumstances and situations.
2:51 Jon
Yeah, absolutely. I think that that helped a lot with the focus because then I could just wallow in that experience, and really embrace it. And the other thing was, you know, as a martial arts teacher, I would always encourage student’s creativity by telling them that as we perform these, you know, these motions, be the star of your own movie, you know, so now you're, I’ll use John Wick because there's John Wick movie coming out. And it's fun to just practice techniques by going through them as if I was in, you know, as the star of my own movie. And so that last bit of the Prowler trip or that last one, you know, the 10 in the 90/10 I would put myself in now I get to be Carl Weathers. And now I'm running on the beach. This is where I get to turn it on. And this is where I end instead of, you know, understanding that moment as being a part of the suck. I would embrace it by saying, you know, this is what makes a movie worth being a movie. I mean, nobody wants a boring movie. You got to get the exciting part. And here's the exciting part. Here's the part that the hero has to push through and crush. And those things gave me the focus to say, here's the moment you know, let's do this right here. I came here for this. That's what it was, was that I would arrive at the gym and I would warm up and I would do the rowing machine and all that stuff. But right when it started to, you know when you get to that point where you go? I gotta you know my body wants to bail out. This is what I came for.
4:41 Ted
Right. Yeah. Well, right. You learn to turn it on in the actual moments to create change. (Yeah) When your body wants to bail out. What happens with most people?
4:55 Jon
They let their body be the boss. (Yeah) And they bail out. And they get their permission slips.
5:02 Ted
You said it right. So, when the language we can often find this when your body wants to. (Yeah) So if the bodies running the show the bodies in control, then we're just trying to have this physical war. And it takes a massive amount of energy to make very small progress there. So, in that perspective shift, you were still doing the same work, or more. It's a person immersed in this physical battle. But within the perspective shift you let go of the attachment to what that meant and having to have that battle.
5:35 Jon
Yeah. And I placed it with an attachment to this is what makes the star of a movie (Yeah) have a movie.
5:42 Ted
You not only replaced it, you embraced it. You pulled that to you.
5:46 Jon
Yep. Well, you know, also, a lot of people don't know the story that the first time I met you, you were still competing. (Yeah) And you were a mountain of a human being. And one of the things that you know, as I looked around the gym, I was just a patient of Dr. V and she was treating me for my back. But it was just kind of a novelty to poke my head into the gym and see what you guys were up to. And, you know, it looked pretty neat but not for me, because I didn't want to be a mountain of a human being. And when Dr. V said, you know, you're gonna have to be stronger if you want not to have these treatments, be a part of your life. For the rest of it. She didn't say it that slowly. She said it a little more brutally. And so she said, you know, go next door and I didn't realize that she had prepared you for my visit and essentially, twisted your arm behind you and said I'm sending you somebody don't send him away, (right) in spite of how soft he may sound, so I walked in to the gym and when I saw you it had been several months since the last time I saw you. And you had retired from competition. And you were lean and mean and I said something to that effect like Wow, man, you're what happened to the rest of you since the last time I saw you. And you turned your head and looked at me and you said, I may be remembering this a little more dramatically than you said it but I remember the way that I remember it was that you turned your head and looked at me and said, I'm the boss. And that told me everything. It told me that you're your body and your compulsions. We're not going to rule the way that you want to express.
7:36 Ted
Yeah, that 285 was by intention. (Yeah) This is, you know, that was kind of a funny time because there were a lot of people who said, Wow, can you tell me tell me what it is that you're doing? So now he told me what I was doing. It's the same thing I was doing before. And people hated that. But it's like, Look, you have to understand, being 285 pounds has different requirements than changing my training focus. (Yeah) Well, I no longer have to do that. If I'm not going to compete, if I'm not going to attempt to squat 1000 pounds and bench 100 bench press 700 pounds and deadlift over 700, I don't need to weigh 285 In fact, it's probably a pretty good prescription near and 50 you know to implode? (Yep) And so that was at that time a difficult decision but one that I made and then I was resolute and that's like cool. And so now I do these things with this new goal. (And that was that) Yeah. So, the energy behind those two things was the same. The methods were essentially the same. The methods (Yeah) not the specifics, yeah, people would say oh, you know, just Yeah, tell me what it is that you did. You know, I already did. I told you like two years ago, right? No, we did this. This is the same thing. My goal changed. So, the methods have the same specifics on how I do that. My food numbers have changed. My training has changed, but I still train. I still eat for performance. (Right) It's just now been finessed into this. If you did not have the bias and discipline (discipline and sacrifice) Yeah. but people would look at me at 285 and say, well, I don't want to be that. (Yeah) And it's like, okay, well tell me what you want to be. I'll tell you. I do it. Well, I don't know if you're the one who could help me. That's interesting. (Yeah) Right. But I switched and everyone all of a sudden knew. (Yep) So, yeah, that's being in charge of your process and it starts with the body if you don't have control of your body. Then you're going to have a very difficult time changing your brain and your emotional state, especially your emotional state. Because let’s think about this. We know that our emotions are what?
9:41 Jon
A result of two things, chemicals (yeah) and our thoughts (and our thoughts). Our thoughts and the chemicals those thoughts produce.
9:54 Ted
Yeah, so we have an experience. We have a chemical reaction in our body. We labeled the experience with the thoughts about what that meant for us. When we later have the thought, we create the chemical or if we create that chemical through a moment of anxiety, we have the memory of that thought. (Yep) And it’s now always that clear in our brain but that’s what our emotional state is. (Yeah) It’s a thought that has been matched with a chemical reaction, a series of chemical reactions in the body. So, if your body’s running the show you’re not in control of your emotions. Or at the very least, you’re very very susceptible to outside programming and conditioning people will say oh it’s not me. No man, the very fact you said proves my point. (Yes, that response) That response just showed exactly what I meant. You had an emotional attachment to what you think I was taking away from your bravado about being in control. And you just demonstrated. That’s what I mean. (Yeah) Right. So that’s kind of a fun game, right? Yeah, get in your brain and body on lockdown.
Optimize your training. Optimize your nutrition. Optimize your life. This is The Ted O'Neill Program.
0:18 Ted
In Paraphysical training one of the Levers is a singularity of focus. So, there's three pieces to this on cultivating the focus to really execute. And I'd say that's dedication. That's commitment. And that's loyalty. We break those down. It's really a dedication to yourself, right? It's your commitment and your dedication to self, which would imply elevating your self-worth and choosing to demonstrate at a higher level. That's it. Right? That's that part. (Yeah) The commitment is to the process. It's adhering to the conditions and requirements of the outcome that you're seeking. That's the commitment. Loyalty, what's loyalty? The loyalty is to the path. So that staying the course listen to those words for six staying the course not? I initiated this course and I dabbled in these three other courses. (Yeah) staying the course. Meaning you keep a singularity of focus on that particular set of methods.
1:22 Jon
Yeah. You know, when I reminisce about the beginnings of that process, those first six to eight months a lot of that was in the Concord summer, and it was hot. And my training time wasn't always 5:30 in the morning.
1:38 Ted
The Concord summer for the uninitiated, can be rather hot, sometimes well over 100 degrees. (Yeah) And much of this training is taking place on an asphalt parking lot.
1:48 Jon
Right. That is, by the time afternoon rolls around, it has just been gathering and is now radiating heat.
1:55 Ted
Yeah. And then inside the gym is probably worse. (Yeah) Because after a couple of days of the sun hitting that slab of concrete that we're building. It's like you're in a little mini oven. But proceed, sir.
2:06 Jon
Yes. So, I remember though, for some reason, I just remember being close to the ground all the time, having to lift things, having to pull stuff, having to just be close to that hot asphalt. And I started to view it as a warm embrace.
2:26 Ted
I can see. You continue to take things that others might view as an adverse condition and you sacrifice your prior attachment to what those things meant and you create a new condition. We could also call that perspective shift. (Yeah) You change your perspective around your circumstances and situations.
2:51 Jon
Yeah, absolutely. I think that that helped a lot with the focus because then I could just wallow in that experience, and really embrace it. And the other thing was, you know, as a martial arts teacher, I would always encourage student’s creativity by telling them that as we perform these, you know, these motions, be the star of your own movie, you know, so now you're, I’ll use John Wick because there's John Wick movie coming out. And it's fun to just practice techniques by going through them as if I was in, you know, as the star of my own movie. And so that last bit of the Prowler trip or that last one, you know, the 10 in the 90/10 I would put myself in now I get to be Carl Weathers. And now I'm running on the beach. This is where I get to turn it on. And this is where I end instead of, you know, understanding that moment as being a part of the suck. I would embrace it by saying, you know, this is what makes a movie worth being a movie. I mean, nobody wants a boring movie. You got to get the exciting part. And here's the exciting part. Here's the part that the hero has to push through and crush. And those things gave me the focus to say, here's the moment you know, let's do this right here. I came here for this. That's what it was, was that I would arrive at the gym and I would warm up and I would do the rowing machine and all that stuff. But right when it started to, you know when you get to that point where you go? I gotta you know my body wants to bail out. This is what I came for.
4:41 Ted
Right. Yeah. Well, right. You learn to turn it on in the actual moments to create change. (Yeah) When your body wants to bail out. What happens with most people?
4:55 Jon
They let their body be the boss. (Yeah) And they bail out. And they get their permission slips.
5:02 Ted
You said it right. So, when the language we can often find this when your body wants to. (Yeah) So if the bodies running the show the bodies in control, then we're just trying to have this physical war. And it takes a massive amount of energy to make very small progress there. So, in that perspective shift, you were still doing the same work, or more. It's a person immersed in this physical battle. But within the perspective shift you let go of the attachment to what that meant and having to have that battle.
5:35 Jon
Yeah. And I placed it with an attachment to this is what makes the star of a movie (Yeah) have a movie.
5:42 Ted
You not only replaced it, you embraced it. You pulled that to you.
5:46 Jon
Yep. Well, you know, also, a lot of people don't know the story that the first time I met you, you were still competing. (Yeah) And you were a mountain of a human being. And one of the things that you know, as I looked around the gym, I was just a patient of Dr. V and she was treating me for my back. But it was just kind of a novelty to poke my head into the gym and see what you guys were up to. And, you know, it looked pretty neat but not for me, because I didn't want to be a mountain of a human being. And when Dr. V said, you know, you're gonna have to be stronger if you want not to have these treatments, be a part of your life. For the rest of it. She didn't say it that slowly. She said it a little more brutally. And so she said, you know, go next door and I didn't realize that she had prepared you for my visit and essentially, twisted your arm behind you and said I'm sending you somebody don't send him away, (right) in spite of how soft he may sound, so I walked in to the gym and when I saw you it had been several months since the last time I saw you. And you had retired from competition. And you were lean and mean and I said something to that effect like Wow, man, you're what happened to the rest of you since the last time I saw you. And you turned your head and looked at me and you said, I may be remembering this a little more dramatically than you said it but I remember the way that I remember it was that you turned your head and looked at me and said, I'm the boss. And that told me everything. It told me that you're your body and your compulsions. We're not going to rule the way that you want to express.
7:36 Ted
Yeah, that 285 was by intention. (Yeah) This is, you know, that was kind of a funny time because there were a lot of people who said, Wow, can you tell me tell me what it is that you're doing? So now he told me what I was doing. It's the same thing I was doing before. And people hated that. But it's like, Look, you have to understand, being 285 pounds has different requirements than changing my training focus. (Yeah) Well, I no longer have to do that. If I'm not going to compete, if I'm not going to attempt to squat 1000 pounds and bench 100 bench press 700 pounds and deadlift over 700, I don't need to weigh 285 In fact, it's probably a pretty good prescription near and 50 you know to implode? (Yep) And so that was at that time a difficult decision but one that I made and then I was resolute and that's like cool. And so now I do these things with this new goal. (And that was that) Yeah. So, the energy behind those two things was the same. The methods were essentially the same. The methods (Yeah) not the specifics, yeah, people would say oh, you know, just Yeah, tell me what it is that you did. You know, I already did. I told you like two years ago, right? No, we did this. This is the same thing. My goal changed. So, the methods have the same specifics on how I do that. My food numbers have changed. My training has changed, but I still train. I still eat for performance. (Right) It's just now been finessed into this. If you did not have the bias and discipline (discipline and sacrifice) Yeah. but people would look at me at 285 and say, well, I don't want to be that. (Yeah) And it's like, okay, well tell me what you want to be. I'll tell you. I do it. Well, I don't know if you're the one who could help me. That's interesting. (Yeah) Right. But I switched and everyone all of a sudden knew. (Yep) So, yeah, that's being in charge of your process and it starts with the body if you don't have control of your body. Then you're going to have a very difficult time changing your brain and your emotional state, especially your emotional state. Because let’s think about this. We know that our emotions are what?
9:41 Jon
A result of two things, chemicals (yeah) and our thoughts (and our thoughts). Our thoughts and the chemicals those thoughts produce.
9:54 Ted
Yeah, so we have an experience. We have a chemical reaction in our body. We labeled the experience with the thoughts about what that meant for us. When we later have the thought, we create the chemical or if we create that chemical through a moment of anxiety, we have the memory of that thought. (Yep) And it’s now always that clear in our brain but that’s what our emotional state is. (Yeah) It’s a thought that has been matched with a chemical reaction, a series of chemical reactions in the body. So, if your body’s running the show you’re not in control of your emotions. Or at the very least, you’re very very susceptible to outside programming and conditioning people will say oh it’s not me. No man, the very fact you said proves my point. (Yes, that response) That response just showed exactly what I meant. You had an emotional attachment to what you think I was taking away from your bravado about being in control. And you just demonstrated. That’s what I mean. (Yeah) Right. So that’s kind of a fun game, right? Yeah, get in your brain and body on lockdown.
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