e-tip 30 – Going round the ‘U’-bend!
This e-tip comes from a great book Presence by Peter Senge et al, described as a journey from the present to an unknown future. It can be summarised by the phrase:
letting go of the old to allow the new to come in
In the book, he describes the point in a meeting where a team are discussing how to resolve a seemingly complex problem, and the more they discus, the more they get stuck. Then the room falls quiet – everyone has run out of ideas. Then after a few minutes of complete silence (and literally blank minds) one guy steps in with a completely new and un-heard of idea that moves the situation breathtakingly towards a simple very simple solution. Everyone had just given up what they’d previously thought, and only at the moment was the opportunity created for something new to happen.
He describes the process as going around a ‘U’ – falling down the left hand side is existing thoughts, ideas, behaviours, knowledge to a point of where it doesn’t work and you become stuck. Then the moment of magic happens where you give that up, something then happens (a bit of magic?) and then begins the rise up the right hand side with new thoughts, useful ideas and behaviours and processes that work better, reaching an OMG! moment, and you’re back in the flow.
Well, what has this to do with skiing you may ask? Well we often bring in stuff that we already know and apply it to skiing, and it’s only when we give these up – the old ways – that we allow new and better ones to come along. For example, we’ve taught ourselves to walk and most of us are very accomplished at it. But how many times have you seen a skier lean back when they want to stop? This comes from our well practiced walking model where we dig our heels in to stop, with unfortunate – well the opposite – consequences when applied to skiing!
So, it’s only when you give up the walking model that allows something new to come in – the skiing model.
Today’s experiment
-
Look at your skiing and consider is there something I’m stuck on? If so, when you describe it to someone else, you say: it’s a bit like….Comparing the situation to something else is a good indication you’re applying something you need to give up!
-
At this point, tell yourself to give up on the previous way of thinking, and just be open to the possibility that there is a new way of thinking that works better – after all, I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of people skiing how you want to be so you can accept that that exists. Just that you don’t know it, yet!
- And that’s what I tell myself: I don’t know. Then allow your mind to go quiet and blank on the inside, and apply a little curiosity in finding new ways that work better: watching and listening to skiers who ski like you want to (say from the chairlift or a video playing in the bar), go into nerk-nerk state (the quickest and simplest way to learn that I know, so far
), read an e-tip, or get professional help like an instructor or come along to a ski workshop
And always have fun – the best state to be in when you ski!
Thanks!
Anthony
©Anthony Davis 2009 All Rights reserved
