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A Lesson From a Ski Hill

Written by: Rebel Brown

Article Overview: How often do we look around, get distracted and lose our focus? What does that cost us in business and in our personal lives?

A Lesson From a Ski Hill

I learned a life lesson at Squaw Valley yesterday. It was a rough day. Over a foot of our famous Sierra Cement and more coming down. Sierra Cement is heavy, heavy snow - think skiing slurpies. It changes with every inch - sometimes you move along, sometimes you get grabbed and stop suddenly. It's an art to find your balance and stay down the hill when you're getting thrown all over the place. Even the tiniest mistake and you get slammed.

I was skiing with my good buddy Jim - who also happens to be a Mountain Guide and one of the best skiers I've ever seen. He was being gracious and helping me relocate my ski legs in this stuff.

We had a GREAT day - I found my balance on my new skis and had a blast in the stuff that I used to hate. I was focused and felt really 'on it' as we skied some of the steepest, narrowest trees at Squaw (trees force you to make turns and get on balance). I was thrilled- I've never skied that well in this stuff and it's something I needed to learn again after a few years in UT. But with a lot of focus, and by paying attention to the changing conditions under my feet - I got it!

We stopped about 30 feet above the groomer on our last run to decide what we were doing. We'd come down the hill and it was pouring rain - the snow had turned into glue under my skis. I decided to head home after such a great day - so we headed toward the base.

As we were heading to the groomer - I looked up to check out KT (a famous Squaw mountain) and lost my focus. My skis left the tracks in this super glue and the next thing I know - I'm face planted on the groomer with a yard sale all around me. I heard my head go Crack as it hit the hardpack and trust me, I felt the pain. I laid there for a minute and thought - "Now that was a bonehead move. What was I thinking?"

We're not sure if my nose is broken. Hopefully it's just the cut I got from my goggles. Then there's my headache - which is surely hurtin' this am. And my neck has a new position on my spine - which we need to fix too.

My point? I LOST MY FOCUS. I wasn't thinking about what I was doing! I started looking around at KT, which was NOT important to my efforts at that moment. And I went Splat! That made me wonder...

How often do we look around, get distracted and lose our focus?

What does that cost us in business and in our personal lives?

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Article Tags: business reinvention, business strategy, executive coaching, Focus, priorities



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