A personal story
I recently went skiing to the Rockies in Canada. I do not consider myself a very good skier; in fact, I would say I am at best an intermediate skier. I have taken lessons in the past, and have received advice from my partner, and my instructors alike.
Funny how the message seems to be the same. It is one of encouragement: “you are a solid skier”. Whilst the message is always good, I sometimes do not feel it. I see the “experts” ski with such elegance, with such perfection…ah..perfection..the word that describes what I am striving for…perfection… Here is my story from my recent skiing trip.
In the Canadian Ski resort of Lake Louise, my partner and I decided to tackle a slope, which on paper seemed a challenge, and looking up from the bottom of the mountain, it certainly looked it. I felt from the get-go a little uncomfortable. It looked steep; it looked everything, which signaled caution to me. We had skied a couple of “easy” black slopes full of moguls earlier in the morning, and I was feeling confident, the encouragement was helping me perform. I was loving it. Dashing through the trees, feeling like James Bond in pursuit of the Russian bad-guys! Up ahead I was admiring the grace and perfection of my partners skiing skills, and wanted to be as good. I was feeling good.
On reaching the peak of the mountain, leaving the ski lift we decided to go down run 84. At the time, it was not clear that we would have to move along the ridge of the mountain. It looked narrow, I would say it felt at best three meters wide. To my right was signposted avalanche area. Signs saying dangerous, caution avalanche zone. To my left, it looked like a sheer drop, with jagged rocks sticking out. The ridge itself was about 200 meters from the lift to the start of the slope! Once on the ridge along where we would ski down, I froze. I couldn’t move, my eyes seemed blinkered, my heart racing, erratic breathing. I seemed to be drifting towards where my eyes were looking. I was getting closer to the edge of the avalanche area. I had to sit; I wanted to take my skis off..slide towards the black slope on my backside..hoping I would make it. My partner turned towards me, saw I was not in a good place. I heard my name; I looked towards her, the encouraging words, the smile, the confidence in me. I was encouraged to keep my skis on, slide towards her sideways, I had done this before, and I knew what had to do. Any mistake felt like I would certainly perish. I was afraid. Yes, genuinely afraid. I felt this fear a year earlier when I decided to go skydiving.
Somehow, I managed to re-group myself, collect my thoughts, and remembered some of the training, the preparation from earlier in the day. Suddenly I am moving to the edge of the black slope, so steep, so bumpy with moguls. I liked on-piste skiing, the beautifully prepared slopes, the gentle, but sometimes fast, steep slopes were no longer in view. I felt I was doing the same crazy off-piste free style skiing the red-bull skiers do..except I wasn’t one of them. This was not a “You-tube video” anymore. This was real.
As we edged towards the top of the mountain, my partner gave me words of encouragement. I told my partner “ok, let’s go, now or never”. I couldn’t go back along the ridge that was behind me. I had to go forward, down.
We started out, I was literally digging the side of my skis into the snow and mountain to stop myself sliding, falling, I was searching for an easy way down, to no avail. I took my time, sliding sideways, managing a turn without losing control, sliding again, turning, finding momentum, finding fun. I was beginning to smile, breath, achieve. I stopped, looking towards my partner, seeing the smiles, knowing we were doing well. At the bottom of the first slope, I was elated. Feeling incredibly accomplished, happy. We high-fived each other, getting ready for the next slope, steep with moguls and rocks. We were down, happy, successful.
After this particular adventure, we tackled a few other ungroomed slopes, with rocks, moguls and steepness I had never experienced before. Faced with another challenging run, I was opting to take an easier route. My “coach” was contemplating another steep run. OK I thought, if I can do the last one, I could do this. My coach expecting me to opt for the easier slope was smiling as I said, “Let’s do it”! Down we went. It was incredibly steep, steeper than before, but the snow was perfect, soft, easy to maneuver, managing to grip with the skis, turning slowly, feeling more in control. Reaching the bottom, I reflected on the skiing I had done in the past on the usual groomed and prepared slopes of Switzerland, Italy, and France, which were my preferred slopes. I was beating the mountain, beating my fears, feeling confident, feeling supported.
Now I understand the challenges of free-ride skiing, the physical, mental and technical skills needed, and I know the sensation of achievement, the feeling of pride and happiness. I learnt a lot that day. I learnt that mentors and coaches, and people I can role model are important to me. I also realize the importance of support and encouragement in general are the keys to achievement.
I learnt from skydiving and free-ride (off-piste) skiing that I have experienced real fear, but tremendous satisfaction in overcoming my fears. After 50 skydives, I can say I love the sensation of flying, and the initial fear when I started out has decreased significantly. Nevertheless, I still have lots to learn. I joke about surviving the extreme, but I know the need for perfection is no longer the driver, it is the sense of learning, overcoming adversary, and feeling accomplished. It’s knowing I have an excellent mentor or coach who knows how to support, but can also challenge my thinking and approaches. To which preparation for anything we do is important, and in some cases critical to survival.
Why am I telling you this? One is because I wanted to share my journey; the other is to remind us all that these experiences are transferable in business, and in our personal lives. Having coaches, mentors and friends around us, who believe in us, who support, challenge, and encourage us is very valuable, and if we are open enough, and willing this will help us to become better at what we do. Sometimes we might not believe we are “solid skiers”, but once we’ve experienced success we need to build on that, and if you don’t succeed, don’t give up, it’s the failures that make us strong, and yet, it’s the success that makes us stronger still.
