The OODA Looper

2011 was a good year. I turned 29, made some great friends, learnt new things, lost more illusions, changed my eating habits and embarked on a fitness program.

Along the way, these are the things that made me feel happy, enlightened and human:

• George R R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. This was the the first fantasy book that I've tackled in more than a decade. I sped through it in a little over a month. It was so good that although I don't watch TV, I followed up with HBO's Game of Thrones, which was based off the first book.
• A Fraction of the Whole by Stevie Toltz. The blackest, smartest, craziest contemporary novel I've read in a long time. It was huge but I didn't want it to end. Toltz is a genius!
• Why we get Fat by Gary Taubes. This slim volume by a science researcher opened my eyes to the thing that is killing us. I'm not fat but because diabetes runs in my family I found it relevant. Thanks to it I have significantly changed my eating habits.
• The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Gallwey. Big-daddy of all self-development books. I've written about it here.
• Convict Conditioning and Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder. The former book outlines a practical bodyweight program. The latter book was a jolt of inspiration and, reading it, I felt compelled to stand up and give Mr Arnold a impassioned salute. He applies time, focus and effort to his own body and builds it like an artist would, hammering away at a sculpture. Much respect to him.
• I saw Warrior, a brilliant, warm movie about family set against the backdop of an MMA tournament. Move over Rocky.

I ended 2011 with an injured knee  but these are just minor aberrations in an upwards trajectory.

2012, you are mine.

If you're interested in self-development and the mechanics of how to learn or how to teach, have a look at The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey, a compact read at 122 pages.

The author uses tennis as an example, but the principles that he teaches can be used in nearly any domain. Because the learner is asked to abstract himself as Self 1 and Self 2, we develop a dialogue between the two selves: Self 1, who wants to teach but only gets in the way of Self 2, and Self 2, who is a natural learner. Gallwey also comments on his own thought processes as recounts anecdotes about his lessons, and this provides the perspective required to learn how to teach others. But teaching oneself it turns out is not so different from teaching others.

This is the most important self-development book I've read, and this is not the last time I will be reading it. Written in the 1970s, The Inner Game of Tennis is a renowned classic that reportedly sparked the business/executive coaching industry. While that industry has devolved into myriad gurus, this book remains fresh for its pragmatism and its avoidance of dogma.