Keith literally wrote the book about how to ride motorcycles faster. He dissected the complex sequence of operations need to get a motorcycle to go around a corner faster not by making the engine more powerful but by changing the way that the rider thinks about the sequence of actions needed to corner more effectively.
That book is called 'A Twist Of The Wrist'.
Now what does this have to do with anything outside of motorcycling?
As it happens, quite a lot.
One of the core elements of Keith's approach is to recognise that attention has its limits; that each of us has a finite amount of attention to give in any given situation. He asks us to imagine that at any given moment we have only $10 of attention to give at any time. If we spend $5 on one thing then we have only $5 left for everything else.
Now how might this approach benefit you?
Think about that $10 of attention right now; what are you spending it on. A family feud? A workplace vendetta? An old wrong that has not yet been avenged? Each of these things is costing you. Each of these emotional entanglements is a drain on your $10 bill of attention.
Which means that you do your job less well, you learn a skill more slowly, you achieve less in your sales plan, you don't develop that deeper level of love and understanding in the relationships you care about most.
If part of your mind is still working out how to punish someone else for the wrong that they did to you, then you are losing twice over. Once from what they did and once again from mental and emotional resources wasted on your planned retribution.
The fix?
Let it drop. Hanging on to the anger is like holding on to a hot coal in readiness to throw it at the person who harmed you. You get burned more than they will from that same hot coal.
Let it go, drop it, cut them out of your life or even, forgive them. No because they deserve forgiveness but because the attention its costing you is stopping you from achieving your goals.
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