Growing up, I was a competitive snowboarder. I competed in three competitions: slopestyle (jumps and rails), superpipe (an icy halfpipe), and boardercross (racing over jumps, through gates, six people at a time).
I loved it all!
Not just right away…
However, I did not just magically get to competing status right away.
My gateway into snowboarding was skiing. I spent about three years getting good enough at skiing to start considering new possibilities on the snow.
Gaining support
My good friend, Ray, and I hatched a plan with our parents and his grandma. We would take our chore money to buy rentals and lift tickets, if an adult would drive us up to the mountain. We would start at the bunny slope, only buying the lift ticket for the bunny slope, and then once we felt confident and courageous enough, we would purchase the next lift ticket to go to runs that were more difficult.
We got their support, and funny enough, Ray’s grandma, Agnes, was the one who committed herself to driving us. It was a win-win. She drove us and got to go cross-country skiing with her friend while we learned how to snowboard.
Backwards to forwards development
For me, this was a mental and emotional exercise. I had to go backwards in my development to learn a new skill. I was already pretty proficient at skiing, being able to go on black diamonds (second to the most difficult run on a mountain), and now I would be on the bunny slope (the easiest run on a mountain).
I was ten years old then and determined to learn a new skill that I was highly interested in. I had no idea how good I’d be, but I didn’t care. I knew that I wanted to do something fun, great, and with others (Ray). We spent about one season learning the proper mechanics of how to snowboard down the bunny slope, eventually looking for little bumps to try to jump off of. Once we started to find those bumps, jump off of them, and land consistently, we started talking about going to the next more difficult lift.
Not only was the lift going to force us to go down more difficult runs, the cost of the lift ticket was more than just the bunny slope. We had to make sure we had the budget, the confidence in our abilities (not just fun, but safety too), and the motivation to see it through.
We got home and individually assessed our budgets, talked with our parents, and then called each other.
“You ready?”
“Yes.”
“Awesome!”
We made plans with Ray’s grandma to drive us up, and we purchased the lift tickets for the bunny slope and the next more difficult chair lift. I remember this feeling of eager-excitement rushing through me. I wanted to get out there and see what we could do.
We had a blast! We took it slow at first, doing what is called the falling-leaf technique as many beginner snowboarders use to learn using their edge and feeling the snow. Then we challenged each other going edge-to-edge, which forces you to go a little faster down the slope, introducing more risk. We had so much fun! A lot of excitement and joy, a little bit scary. It was an adventure!
Ray and I kept at it for two years together working on our technique and going to the next level together. We then started to get more confidence in our abilities and courage to try new things.
Leveling up
Eventually, we got good enough where we could consider taking our skills to larger and more risky elements. For me, this was in competition with other snowboarders to perform acrobatics in the air to be judged for points.
In these competitions, I won some and lost some. Fell a lot, but always looking for an improvement. Too much speed? Too much air? Too much ego? Etc.
My experience learning how to snowboard and then to compete, by first falling backwards and then moving ahead, taught me valuable lessons for life and leadership.
Lessons learned
Sometimes you need to take a step back to move forward. Is going to be OK.
Risk and struggle is always part of improvement.
Setting goals that are exciting and challenging is motivating.
Working towards goals with others is way more enjoyable and productive than going alone.
You can do really hard things.
I share all of this, because I believe that you can do hard things too. That leadership is often lonely. Making decisions for business and life is challenging. And that learning new things or developing in new ways can seem daunting.
You are not alone!
I hope this encourages you to take a look at your leadership and life in a way that produces courage, hope, and activity.
How have you seen someone develop that first looked like taking a step back, but later realized they made great progress? Please share your thoughts so we can learn from each other.
You are a Force of Awesome!
Let’s go!
I am an executive/leadership coach working with high-achieving business owners, leaders, and their teams that are working on getting to their next level of performance. You might sense that what got you here might not get you to the next achievement. Want to connect? Contact me here.
Comments