Ep 19: It's not what you know, it's what you do consistently

From performanceriders.com this is the Pabri podcast. I'm Nat Foxen and each episode I challenge World equestrian Games top 10 dressage writer Brett Parbury to explain and discuss what I call a Parburyism. That's a pearl of wisdom I've written down over the years of working together in our performance writers programs. Brett doesn't know what today's pabraism is. Let's get into it. Brett. I've got a Pabrism that's not really a Parburyism and it's a little bit out of left field today. Are you ready for that?

Yes. Left field worries me.

Yeah, you sound slightly terrified. Today's pabrism is stolen from Tim Ferriss. Now, for anybody who doesn't know Tim Ferriss, he is a podcaster and entrepreneur and author. Brett, you've listened to some of Tim Ferriss's work. So the stolen poverty ism is, it's not what you know, it's what you do consistently.

Okay, I like it.

How? Yeah, how good? How, how Pabri. Right? Like I heard this, I'm like, well that's a ism if ever I heard one.

Well, yeah, I mean I feel like a bit of a phony adopting Tim's. But I mean most of these things are shared around most of these great stuff sort of statements or things there little tweaks on what you've heard from someone else say. But I am a massive fan of Tim Ferriss and I think that you know everything he does, I, I, I love, so yeah, I love it.

Yeah. So it's not what you know, it's what you do consistently. And what really interested me about this stolen papyism was that you've had so many years coaching on the side of arenas through our programs. You name it, you've done it. So I'm really interested in your take on what's the difference between the writers who are able to take the knowledge that you give them and make radical changes for the better versus those of us who, who get little stuck even though we're still having the same knowledge. Yeah, that's kind of what I'm really interested in discussing today. What, what, what, what comes to your mind first?

Yeah, look, I don't know if I'm on the right track here, but what comes to my mind when you mention that is the, is the person like the person. So from a coaching perspective, I've always said that I can take a rider as far as they want to go, you know? You know, I've been lucky enough to have trained with the best people in the world. I've been lucky enough to achieve, you know, top rate finishes at major European shows and major international shows, including World Games. I do believe that I have the connections personally and the knowledge to be able to get someone into the, you know, the top, top 20 in the world. But you've got to have the person. And it's always about the person, the person, you know, the coach. And you can say this about any professional sport out there, that the coach is only as good as the person that the information's landing on. And of course some coaches can find ways to inspire and motivate some people through their, let's call it, person management skills. But that's nothing to do with the information. The information could be still very good. It's just that how do you get, how does that person be inspired, motivated to implement and to keep going? So it is the person. And, and here's another thing is I've seen some people that were always going to be champions no matter who was their coach. So, and of course that coach was there to be there for the crucial moments and deliver the right information at the right time. And it took the person on to be a champion. But some people just have those inbuilt qualities that they are going to find a way no matter what it takes. So coming back to what you said there, I think that it's all about the person. The coach can do so much, but it's the person that implements and that the intelligence and the, the way. I mean I was in the States recently and I spent some time with a really good friend of mine, Boyd Martin. And over some time together we discussed what it took to be a champion. And he quoted a very famous American writer and I was really interested to hear the, the, the things that, that Boyd agreed with and what this American writer said. And there were five things and they, and they happen in order. And the first one was the quality that a person needs to be a champion is, is selection. The ability to select and that includes in our sport the ability to select the correct horses or the, the horses that suit horses that they are going to suit the job and, and be durable enough to go through a career. Also selecting professionals to work with coaches, farriers, dentists, saddle fitters, the whole thing. But the ability to make great decisions and great decisions with the, with the end goal in mind was one attribute and that was the number one attribute that was suggested as being the quality of a champion. The second one was the control of Emotion. And I really like that one, you know, resilience and being able to not get too big and above yourself when things are going really well, and also not to hit a wall and crash and completely want to give everything away when things go really badly, really poorly. So the ability to be resilient and control emotion, and not only that, but control emotion when it really matters. In those big moments in someone's career where they're, you know, they're being relied upon by a country they're the last to ride or whatever it might be, or a selection event. The ability to control emotion in those really crucial moments. Then came management and the. The ability to manage their own career, manage their show season, manage the career of a horse, manage the welfare of a horse and the welfare of themselves. So having the ability to manage the. The whole machine and if that's not the right word, but the whole thing that goes around that person, you know, everything from their own. Everything from their own spare free time to where they're getting pulled, because as we know, as people become more and more recognizable, more people want to pull at them. So the management skills that are involved with that was another one. The ability to connect personally with. With people. And I, I really thought that was an interesting one, because when you do have a great horse, you know, oftentimes it's not owned by you or it's owned by someone else or owned by a syndicate. There's this requirement of being able to communicate and connect with other people on the journey. And I think that's really important. And I don't think we talk about that enough, that this is not, you know, it's not usually one person's quest. It's. It's a number of people all striving for the same thing and everybody going in the same direction and the ability to connect and be, you know, have those personal connections is a big one. And the last one was a little bit of talent. And I really like the fact that that was the last thing because, yeah, we all see these talented people when they're young or, you know, talented writers, and we think they're going to be superstars. But as you can see by that list, and that was that. That was Boyd, who's very experienced, myself, who've been around forever, and this other very, very successful American writer who's probably one of the number one writers in that country, that they were the order of importance of the attributes someone needs. And I thought, wow, that's. That's really good. Like, not to get too kind of mesmerized by someone's talent. Because as you can see, there's a lot, there's a lot more to it.

Yeah, love that. Fantastic. And do you feel like, I mean in that context you were talking about high performance elite athletes. Do you feel like the same applies to the amateur rider that you, you might be teaching at clinics?

Look, I think it applies to anybody who's trying to find the best in themselves. And I don't really, I mean I understand that some people don't take it as seriously as others, I do get that. But I don't really lump the amateurs, let's say into this group of they don't take it seriously. Because I do believe, I mean to be honest, some of the best writers I've seen have been amateurs. People who are very, very intelligent and, and have other careers outside of horses and haven't, have got choices in their life and don't have to ride horses for, for, for money and ride professionally. And they are tremendously talented people. To be totally honest, some of them, I would prefer put a horse in training with some, one of those people than some of the so called professionals. So because some of these people are wonderful riders. So I just think that applies to anybody who's interested in trying to find the best in themselves and the best that they can do and the most that they can achieve in the 40 minutes, one and a half hours or whatever that they did they designate in their day to, to training, dressage and, and yeah, because high achievers don't necessarily need to be professional, professional riders.

Just a quick message from us. If any of the ideas discussed today resonate with you and you'd love to dive deeper, head over to performanceriders.com there's a bunch of free content for you and there's loads of opportunities as well to work with us by enrolling in one of our training or mentoring programs. Performanceriders.com so the papyism stolen stolen part reason we're talking about today is from Tim Ferriss, podcaster and entrepreneur and author. And it's, it's not what you know, it's what you do consistently. So maybe let's talk about some of the more sort of nitty gritty here. What do you find with your clients, your writers that you teach? What are they not doing consistently, perhaps that you would like to see, see, see them action, maybe some knowledge that you're trying to impart that you're seeing, if you can speak so broadly that you're seeing that need we need to ramp up in terms of the doing and the action and the consistency.

I see a number of things and not all of them are in abilities in the person. So for example there, I'll say that some riders who are almost struggling to progress in the, at the rate that I would like them to progress and at the rate that they would like to progress oftentimes can be paralysis by analysis. So, so over analyzing, almost being a bit too literal about some of the information and not and fail and forgetting sorry to remember to ride the horse. So that's, that's definitely one more so with, with females, I do believe that men are probably a little bit more like okay, let's just get on and get it done. And we have our own challenges in the other end of that when the details are required. Right. So, so, but girls tend to, females tend to be more analytical up front and definitely more literal about the information and, and that's, that's fine. But I don't want people to be paralyzed by that. I think there's certainly a curiosity and an experimental phase that writers need to allow themselves and permit themselves to do. I think overall the majority of dressage riding females just don't like making mistakes. They don't want to make a mistake. They don't. Their empathy for the horse is. They don't want the horse to be confused and they blame themselves for any confusion. And I always say like, don't worry like your horse is not going to be offended too much. Like just, just go through the mistakes, have a giggle at yourself and keep learning. Because I do believe that not allowing yourself to do that actually short changes the growth. So there's definitely that aspect. The other aspect is possibly sustained focus, being able to focus for longer periods and have a depth of focus. I think that's something that comes with certain people have that attribute more so than others. And I think it is something that we can grow. We can definitely grow that and I think we can develop it is the ability to focus for longer periods and, and become a bit. Blinkered, like in a good way. You know, there's obviously getting blinkers on in a bad way. But I think it sometimes if you believe that the system that you're applying to your horse does fit with the way you want to ride and it does definitely fit with the system that you want to train. Then, then be certain about it and, and be focused and certain about the, the two or three things that make up your system. So it could be in front of the leg, yielding to the reins and on the bit and in a good posture and on a straight line, you know, three very uncomplicated things. Not easy to do. Not very easy to do, but uncomplicated. So B, have the blinkers on and get that and, and then when you get it, notice it and disappear. And you know, without hashing over the pressure release concepts that we work on in, in horse training, you know, having that clarity for the horse of I need you in front of me, I need you rounded on the contact and on the bit and connected and using your top line and I need you balanced and on whatever line I choose, you know, the fundamentals. So, you know, having the blinkers on and having the focus and the attention to detail to go bank. Now this is happening. Good pressure off. Well done. Reward. Now let's keep going. I find that possibly that degree of focus required for that and the attention for that basic way of going sometimes is lacking also. And then the third thing, without talking your ears off with this is just, I would love to see more people investing in off horse development. You know, doesn't have to be going to the gym. It doesn't have to be doing three spin classes a week. It can just be walking to the stables and walking three or four half passes left and right. Putting your body in the correct position, making yourself rehearse your posture, your body position, just, just live and breathe it more off the horse.

Yeah, yeah.

Even better. If it is some exercise and some other things, it'll help you become even more physically fit just for life in general. But if you're time poor, just use the minutes that are, that, the, the scrap minutes. Those minutes that you're just walking around doing things to make yourself, you know, put yourself in those positions. Because I mean, as a coach, I get to stand there every weekend and show people half passes and I get to put myself in positions every single weekend.

Yeah, right. Yeah.

Walk people through training a change, riding a pirouette and I'm shape, I'm, I'm walking it myself. I get the benefit of doing that. And every Monday when I get home from a clinic, I, I always ride better because I've just been going over it all weekend.

Yeah.

Putting my body in these positions. And, and I just wonder how can people do that when they're riding one horse a day and they're not thinking about it between the rides?

Yeah. The first time they think about it is when they're, when they're in the saddle. Yeah. So true.

So, so yeah, that's the other thing.

What about also, I think this theory is called confirmation bias. When we only find or hear, maybe more to the point, we only hear the information that we kind of want to hear or that already backs up our existing beliefs, our existing strengths. I think maybe that can impact on our doing as well. So rather than doing consistently what actually really needs to be done, we focus instead on perhaps the status quo and already building our own strengths. Do you know what I mean? Instead of searching, what's the weakness here?

I know exactly what you mean because I feel like I fall into that trap. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And well, at least Mel thinks I do. That's my. She's very much confirmed, convinced I've got confirmation bias. But look, definitely, I think that's an awareness thing. I think that it's human nature to have confirmation bias. You know, I believe this. This is one of the reasons why I, I try to get riders that are involved in our program to regularly think about their philosophy on, on what and who they want to be as a writer. Because I do believe your underlying philosophy will determine the information that you hear and you want to apply.

Yeah.

And it doesn't always mean that that's the right information for you. And I'm, and I sort of have fallen into that. But to be a completely rounded rider, you need to peek over the fence at what everyone else is doing that possibly aren't of the same philosophy because they will also know things and do things that we need to do more of. I don't believe, unless you're, you know, one of the top, top writers in the world. And even then I think you'd find that they don't believe they're complete. I think you'll find that one of the reasons why they are the top writers in the world is because they're striving to find complete success, a complete feeling. And they're extremely motivated to find that. So I don't think anyone can say they're the complete writer because there's always something you can do better. And if you're putting the handcuffs on yourself and not allowing yourself to look around and look at other ways, even if you don't agree with them, if you don't agree with them, that's fine. But just analyze why, you know, but analyze it, you know, I guess. Here we go. Like there's plenty of people out there tell you why you're doing a bad job. You know you're doing a bad job because the horses nose is behind the vertical. Or you're doing a bad job because you know you're Flying changes aren't good enough. There's plenty of people tell you you're doing a bad job, but. And of course, when we look at someone else, we, we can make opinion, but something in what they're doing, you'll find that you can apply if you look deep enough. And that's of someone who's sort of, you know, of a, a certain status and stature, who's achieved things in the sport. Because we don't all, we don't all share the same philosophies and we don't all apply the same training. That's the beautiful part of it. So, yeah, I think being aware that you will naturally be attracted to certain information and then also having the awareness to pick out the bits in other people's writing that you're weak at and trying to apply them.

No, that's right. And I mean, that can even apply with your own regular coach or a clinician who you see. And that comes down to what, what parts of that session or lesson did you actually absorb and what parts did you choose to ignore, you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, we, I. It's always a fascinating exercise in our programs. Often after we run live sessions. Well, always after we run live sessions, we'll have a little catch up in our, in our study groups and everybody will share their gold nuggets, we call them, that they got out of the sessions. And it's fascinating to see what different people pull out of different sessions. And I often think that, well, that probably is just to reconfirm a belief that we already had, you know, so it's good to read what other people are gaining from the sessions because you might think God did that. Did Brett actually say that in the session? Oh, okay. Yeah. That's interesting because you didn't hear it first time around.

Yeah. And that's the beautiful part of it. Like with our program, it's about inviting people to think about developing their own system of training and being accountable for that system of training and applying that information on a daily basis, every day, regularly, with or without help, you know, because that's what the horse will appreciate in the end. The horse appreciates the consistency, the pressure release, the clarity, and the fact that every day is the same. There's no tangents. You know, here we are in a, in the middle of June and all of a sudden, suddenly I'm doing something completely different than I've done for the last three months. You know, how's the horse meant to know that? So, so inviting people to open their eyes up, open their mind up and start developing their own systems with the guidance of you know saying this is my system, you know you can here's what I do is great because then they can take that information and put twists on it and you know work their way through it and get a different definition for themselves on certain things which I really enjoy. You know I really enjoy people hearing people take ownership over their own training system.

Yeah great conversation. You know thanks to Tim Ferriss. It's not what you know it's what you do consistently and I hope that you've found some food for thought in this conversation. I've certainly it's made me think about what do I know but I'm not doing and why. So thank you very much Brett.

Thank you Nat. Very good. I don't even know if I really got to the bottom of that one but we certainly come up with some great stuff on the way through.