Mindspeak Truing

October 27, 2024

As we strive to up our wheel building game, sometimes the missing ingredient is a perception or attitude, not a better tool or process.

When you spend time in the woods you are sure to do some tracking. Good tracking is a rare and valuable talent. I’m always impressed and envious of skilled trackers. There are numerous methods in tracking and three are relevant to wheel building. Experience
One’s tracking can be based on vast experience. Spending enough time in a habitat gives you superpowers. Years of observation through weather and seasons is invaluable. In the same way, decades of wheel building and repairing will help reach mastery.

Science
Some trackers rely on a scientific method—relentless focus on detail, let nothing go unnoticed. Data empowers and vigilant attention unlocks subtle clues. Similarly for wheel builders, record keeping— tensions, trueness, spoke lengths, outcomes, charts—and careful observation brings success. Mindspeak
Advanced trackers drop into the mindset of the target species, so completely they can anticipate future behavior. Such a stream of consciousness is amazing to behold—trackers in the zone move with precision and speed. They aren’t only following signs but crossing territory with complete confidence based on a mental grasp of what the animal is likely doing and thinking.

Wheel builders aspire to this zone. This is the “flow” that competitors seek. The deeper your knowledge of spoked structures and yourself, the more you will move effortlessly from action to action. The wheel is not resisting, it’s just behaving like a wheel and nothing it does should surprise. This is real mastery of the craft.

 

A spoked wheel is not a tracked animal, but you can tell when it’s nearing perfection. Your career, as a builder, involves cultivating such powers. Employ the mindspeak of trackers, their deep knowledge of territory and behavior, and make more optimal decisions.

While experience and science up your game, the most advanced building involves mindspeak mastery, a state of flow.

Happy building!

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