1000 Falls
/Too many of us have become stuck in lives that aren’t going to work. Jobs that don’t pay or satisfy enough, lackluster relationships, unhealthy bodies or undisciplined minds.
We know there are changes we have to make, but we seem to lack the natural talent required to make them. Short of “magic” we’re imprisoned by planning and conducting our live’s as if our strengths and weaknesses were fixed.
What doesn’t work
Recycled self help B.S says to “maximize your strengths and mitigate our weaknesses”, but that would be like telling an athlete to stop using his weak arm and just strengthen his strong one. It’s stupid.
As a SEAL 99% of what you do is learn how to do things that can’t be done right away. Free fall parachuting, 4 hour night navigation dives, high-level marksmanship, running 200 miles in a week, swimming for 6.5 hours straight or staying awake for over 5 days at time.
As a result you don’t look at anything you can’t do as being a fixed character trait you see everything as something to be mastered. Pure freedom.
Not being imprisoned by my current sets of skills, strengths or weaknesses served me very well in business. It wasn’t that I didn’t have any weakness, it was that I wasn’t imprisoned by them. I knew that if I failed enough at anything I could turn it into a strength.
It was a trait the SEAL Teams had developed in me through training and experience, but it was a famous surfer that taught me why it worked so well and how to duplicate it in my personal life.
1000 Falls
A famous big wave surfer named Laird Hamilton was describing his difficulty learning how to windsurf.
He explained how most get frustrated and quit while trying to develop a new complex skill; but, how he wasn’t fazed.
He went on to explain that he simply realized that he would have to fall 1000 times before he got it.
So he wasn’t really trying to “windsurf” on day one he was actually there to get his falls done. He eventually became a professional windsurfer by the way.
Perhaps the closes thing to magic is this “thing” that all of a sudden happens. The day you can run 26.2 miles with a smile. The moment you can fly the airplane, lift the weight or surf the wave. To be honest it does feel like magic and the more you do the more power you seem to have. Hmm… Magic?
Use your wishes wisely
So unfortunately it’s not as easy as getting three wishes, but you can see how the “magic” can happen. It’s going to take some work so you better choose your “wish” wisely.
Find something you know you can’t do or are bad at and go get at least average at it. Go out and fall 1000 times. The magic will happen!
What is something you would do if you knew you could do it?
What is something you wish you had kept trying at?
Eric...
Learn how Eric applied techniques such as this to both becoming and raising a man.
