How I Got Two Hickeys Flying High
I celebrated my birthday last week at an indoor skydiving place. Really, it was awesome… except for the part that wasn’t.
In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, you’ll get three key points that apply to business, leadership, and life. I learned them while being supported by winds above 100mph.
Here’s a short video for you, too!
There are some really great lessons that can be learned from doing indoor sky-diving. Apparently, my wife and I are really great students and had no problems with control. I think the thing is, we take instruction really well. We want to succeed and we’re willing to learn what works for others so that we can maximize our experience. And, because we’re different people from the instructors or from each other, we learned to adapt what we’ve learned to ourselves.
Lesson #1:
Learn what works. Model what works. Adapt it to your own situation.
In order to make things happen really well at the indoor skydiving place, you’ve got to lean in, hold your position for maximum lift, and stay relaxed. That’s a huge part of business, leadership, and pretty much life too, isn’t it?
Lesson #2
If you really want to experience success, lean in and relax.
Then, enjoy the experience.
Okay, so all of that was good until winds of 103mph that were holding me aloft also untucked my shirt collar from under my flight suit. At that speed, my pointed collars were whipping against my neck pretty strongly. And, when I say “whipping,” I mean that quite literally.
My relaxed enjoyment of the experience became stinging pain as the points of my collars hit my neck the way a wet rolled towel would hit someone’s a** in a locker room. My focus shifted. I began to tense up. I reached for my collars and, in doing so, broke the aerodynamic form keeping me aloft. I sank… fast.
Because the “flight” is a super short time, I knew that I could ride it out. Yes it hurt. It hurt A LOT, but I wasn’t ready to call my flight off. I compartmentalized the pain and deliberately focused on the thrill of flying. I could feel the whipping against my neck, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from enjoying the full experience of flight/sky-diving.
It’s tough. And especially when it’s tough is when you have to focus on what IS working. Enjoy THAT and know that you’ll fix the other stuff soon enough.
Lesson #3
Focus on what IS working until you can pause to fix the stuff that isn’t.
Sure, I got a little messed up. I was gambling that it wasn’t permanent and kept myself focused on the fun of the flight.
And that’s business… and life! Learn what works for others. Model that and adapt it to yourself and your own situation. Lean into the experience and relax. Notice when you’re not relaxed and make choices that’ll get you back to feeling good. (It’s actually a misrepresentation to say I was “relaxed.” I was tensed in a plank position in the air AND I was relaxed. I guess it’s more accurate to say I wasn’t fretting.)
So do that. Review those three lessons and let me know how they work for you!
Keep making your magic™!!! I’ll see you here next week!
~ DR P ~
PSSSSSTTTT… Maybe you’re ready to lean in and relax to your next level of greatness. And maybe you need a flight instructor to get there because you don’t want to do it alone. Take a look at these new online courses. I made them for you. The Success & Significance Course takes you through your values to redefining what success really looks like for you. The Direct Power System Course helps you enhance your relationships at home and in the world by helping you find your true voice.
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