Last week my husband and I took our kids to the snow. It’s just a short 8-9 hours up the road, which, if you have children who range from 9 through to 16, it’s always an ‘interesting’ journey!!!!
I have a love-hate relationship with going to the snow. I’m a snowboarder. I could tell you in this email that I am an AWESOME snowboarder…but I’d be stretching the truth! I’m not too bad… but I’m a bit of a scaredy cat! (I broke my wrist on the mountain 6 years ago..whilst standing up and NOT actually snowboarding. I know. Not an epic story! Bwahahaaa!!).
The thing is that I’m more than just a little impatient and want to be the best and I’m not at this sport. And that’s ok. My personal lesson this year was a good one.
This year, I started off in level 3. This was a level below the one I finished on last time, because I just wanted to get my confidence back. It was perfect for me! I had a blast. I wasn’t pushed TOO much, but just enough to feel really proud of myself.
The next day, though, I was upgraded to the next level. The Black Level. I was worried about holding back the other people in the lesson, but my instructor assured me that it was where I was supposed to be.
Oh. My. Golly!
There *may* have been some tears in goggles THAT day!!!
We were learning some tricks. Pops. 180’s. Alley-oops. On-snow 360’s. And I found it REALLY HARD to get it.
The way that I learn, is that I need to hear the what’s happening in my body. ie. Where my foot needs to be positioned. Where the weight lies. Where my shin needs to push in my boot. That kind of thing. And THEN… I need to follow someone doing it and I’ll copy it.
This year, it wasn’t THAT easy!
To boot, I ride ‘goofy’, which was back-to-front compared to everyone else.
I found it REALLY hard to understand HOW TO DO the tricks. To get it. I kept falling over. My knees were bruised from landing on the ‘firm’ (aka ICY) bits of snow. I was sore all over.
And I wanted to give up.
But I didn’t.
I kept drilling the techniques. I kept asking questions (feeling like a douche). I kept watching. And trying. And practicing.
Yes, there were tears (in my goggles, so nobody saw!)…
Yes, there was a bit of a tanty when I couldn’t see as clearly as I wanted (but those clouds brought LOTS of snow, so there’s always a silver lining)…
But I kept getting up.
And by the last day, I was going FASTER than ever before – by my standards!
I was doing more tricks that I thought were IMPOSSIBLE for me to do.
I had more confidence.
My body seemed to know MORE of what it was doing without me needing to concentrate so damn hard.
SO WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT?
It really is the PERFECT business metaphor, don’t you think?
There’ll be times when things don’t work in your business. In your marketing. In all areas of your business. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t EVER work. In fact. If you are PERSISTENT and you KEEP GOING… if you CHOOSE to PRACTICE then you WILL get there.
And THAT’S OKAY! You don’t have to ‘get it’ the first time you hear something or learn something.
Sometimes, it will take a few different explanations of HOW to do things for you to ‘get it’.
Chuck a tantrum if you feel like you need to – in the privacy of your own home, preferably!
Have a cry.
Give yourself some space to regroup.
And then get back on the SNOWBOARD and do it again. Learn it again. Practice it again. Try it again. Listen to the training again. Break it down.
Why?
Because what you want to create is more important than NOT putting yourself out there.
Because it’s more important to REACH the people you want to reach.
Because ALL IT TAKES to ‘get there’ is the refusal to give up.
Self doubt is an insidious bitch but it’s drowned out by ACTION, PERSISTENCE, PRACTICE & GRIT.
Now, you’ll find below that there’s some details on my LATEST, free LIVE training that I’d love to invite you along.
On that training, I’ll be sharing How To Create 5 Star Online Marketing That Reflects Your Offline Expertise.
I’m BACK, baby, and ready to help you to leverage your OFFLINE expertise, ONLINE.
Nicola x