First I got up incredibly early this morning and managed to finish all my important tasks in time to watch the inaugural speech.
That was amazing. It was awesome to see a nation celebrate the promise of hope and openness.
Then, since it was warm (56 degrees) I decided to celebrate a little myself with a motorcycle ride. Everything was perfect till I took a wrong turn, made a bad decision to stick with it and ended up on a dirt road. The dirt wasn't so bad but then that became a mud, snow, and ice road. By that point I felt I was pretty committed and going back was as unappealing as going forward which ended up being pretty challenging.
My motorcycle and I got it through it fine (minus two turn signals) but it got me to thinking. This is what I re-learned today.
- Plan carefully but be willing to improvise - You never really know what lays ahead. Try to be prepared for anything but realize you won't be.
- Learn to admit a mistake and backtrack when appropriate - Note you most common blind spots and failure modes and try to address them.
- Relax - Tensing up does not help anything and neither does having a death grip on anything.
- Focus on where you want to go - If you stare at the big rock or block of ice, you will hit it.
- Don't let the challenges distract you - Ignore the rock wall to one side and the canyon to the other. If you stay on path they are not an issue.
- Have faith that you'll make it - You may have miles of ice road ahead but have faith that if you get through the next 30 feet and then the next, eventually you'll make it.
- Its okay to take it slow and easy - You may be behind schedule or worried it is going to get cold and dark before you finish but you'll have a ton more experience and have sharpened your skills immensely.
I guess that is it for now. It is supposed to get cold again. In the mean time I need to get two blinkers for the bike and I'll be out again next time the weather warms up.
