What if we recognised that every single thing we do - and everything we avoid doing - is quietly shaping us into the kind of person we're becoming? A conversation about discovering that we're already practising something all the time, whether we realise it or not, and that our choices about where to place our attention might be more consequential than we imagine. What would it mean to get good at the things that truly matter to us, or to surprise and widen ourselves by practicing new things that are outside of our familiar, comfortable range?



This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.



Episode Overview

00:00 Welcome and Introduction to Turning Towards Life

02:21 The Importance of Time and Choices

05:37 Practicing What Matters: Insights from Chloe Caldwell

10:08 The Impact of Our Practices on Our Lives

15:07 Awareness of Time and Intentions

19:09 The Role of Social Media in Shaping Us

24:28 Exploring New Practices and Joyful Experimentation

32:32 The Value of External Perspectives on Our Practices

38:01 Conclusion and Reflection on Our Practices



Here’s our source for this week:



You Get Good at What You Do



My dad passed away last December, and he was in the top three closest people to me over my life. He used to have a phrase he used with his guitar students: “You get good at what you do. If you practice guitar, you get really good at guitar. If you don’t practice, you get really good at not practicing.”



I love this phrase because you can apply it to every single thing in life, in ways both literal and abstract. If you write, you get good at writing If you look at Instagram, you get good at looking at Instagram. If you walk, you get good at walking. If you swim, you get good at swimming. If you write, you get good at writing. If you don’t write, you get really good at not writing. If you look at Instagram, you get REALLY good at looking at Instagram.



I think my dad’s lesson seeped into my brain from hearing him say it so much. It wasn’t advice as much as a notion. Now I pass it along to my students and think about it once a day. It seems simple and like something we all know, logically, but the way it is phrased really drives it home.



When he died, one of his guitar students wrote, “Rob was good at love and music. It’s what he did.”



Chloé Caldwell

via Cheryl Strayed’s Substack



Photo by Majkl Velner on Unsplash



----



Join Us Live in 2025



Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from 10 September 2025

Our Turning Towards Life live programme of community, learning and reflection runs in six month seasons from September. It's going to be in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice.

You can find out more and join us here: www.turningtowards.life/live



----



About Turning Towards Life

Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace.  Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.



Join Our Weekly Mailing: www.turningtowards.life/subscribe

Support Us: www.buymeacoffee.com/turningtowardslife



Keywords

practising consciousness, attention choices, time dedication, intentional living, habit formation, social media impact, parenting practices, body movement, dance therapy, five rhythms, creative experimentation, relationship awareness, coaching practice, value alignment, present moment, death awareness, guitar teaching, love practice, Instagram scrolling, screen time, movement practice, flexible being, meeting world, self observation, community feedback, practice visibility, tender awareness, blind spots, coaching skills, professional development, turning towards life



People Mentioned

Cheryl Strayed

Chloé Caldwell

The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)