I know its only fall but whenever fall hits I start to think about ski season and while it’s been quite a few years since I’ve gone skiing I can remember when I was a really young skier I really wanted to learn how to ski the moguls. There was something special for me as I watched people ski the bumps and I wanted to be a part of the group of people who could really ski those well. So I spent a lot of my time watching people do it and trying to duplicate what they did. I am a person who can typically pick up athletic endeavors rather quickly so I was very surprised when I was really struggling to learn this trick of skiing the bumps.
As part of my journey to learn how to do this, I decided I had to do more than just watch and learn I had to start asking people what they were doing. I got some interesting responses from people as you would imagine from a guy who spent his time on a mountain name Mary Jane. One response to my question of advice was to just “absorb and deflect man” which was really great advice and did nothing for me. One day I met a person who gave me the best advice I had gotten and it’s something that I’ve used on all sorts of endeavors to this day. His advice was simple. He told me I had to be at least three to four moguls ahead of where I currently was so that I could plan my path. That was great advice for me and changed the way I skied the moguls forever. I had been trying to attack just what was in front of me without ever seeing what was ahead.
This is also great life advice and why I’ve decided to coach people. Coaching can help you see the moguls in front of you but better yet, a good coach can help you learn to see the moguls in front of you and it will change you forever.