Lessons From One of THOSE People

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I drove out to her office so she could respond to a request from one of her clients. As I pulled into the small parking lot, I saw one of THOSE young people at the south end of the lot. You know who THOSE young people are, don’t you? THOSE young people whip around pedestrians on the sidewalks. THOSE young people zoom through parking lots. Some of THOSE young people even fly down residential streets disregarding traffic.

As you have figured out by now, THOSE young people are skateboarders!

Since this young fella was watching to see what we were going to do (or say), I decided to remain outside while my wife went into the building. Apparently he decided he could continue to do whatever it was he was up to when I gave the appearance of ignoring him. At this point, I need to explain that the entire block of small office buildings is terraced, so each individual parking lot is lower (or higher, depending on which way you look) that the adjoining lot.

“Will,” I heard him call out, “Here I come, are you ready?” And with that he zipped across the parking lot, hit the railroad tie at the north end, flipped his skateboard, flew through the air into the lot to the north (which is probably 5 or 6 feet lower)—and landed flat on his face! I almost went to check on him, but decided to wait. He stood up, laughed and said to Will (who was out of my line of sight on the lower lot), “Let’s try this again!” And he did—a total of four more times in fact.

In this instance, the fourth time was the charm. That time, when he hit the railroad tie, expertly flipped the skateboard into the air, he came down on the board and triumphantly rode it to the far end of the lot. The invisible Will suddenly came into view holding a small video camera yelling, “Awesome, man, awesome!” After a couple of high-fives, the boys took their skateboard and, with a spring in their step, walked toward the neighborhood.

Later on, after I got home, I couldn’t get this little drama out of my mind. Several lessons began emerging as I pondered what I had witnessed.

First, since Will had a camera going, these boys apparently had a reason for what they were doing. They weren’t just out there having fun, they were working hard to get it right. Never once did I hear Will complain about it getting late, about it being hot (the sun was beating down on the lots) or that he wanted a turn on the skateboard. No, Will’s job that afternoon was to capture the moment of success and the thrill of victory when our skateboarder (finally) got it right!

Second, our skateboarder had learned what too many of us either never learned (or fail to apply), which is the power of seeing ourselves succeeding. After every failed attempt, the young man would get up off the asphalt, pick up his skateboard and tell Will (and himself), “I can SEE myself doing it perfect.”

Third, he kept trying, despite the number of mishaps he had experienced.

Fourth, he analyzed what he did wrong and instead of beating himself up for his bad technique (as I watched, I realized that it takes skill to flip a skateboard correctly) and he acted to correct it immediately.

Fifth, his seeing success, keeping on in the face of frustrating failure, acting to adjust his technique paid off as he experienced the exhilaration that comes when the agony of defeat finally turns into the thrill of victory.

Those principles are valid whether we are trying to master tricks on a skateboard, sell a product, manage a department, or complete a difficult project. I got a skateboard to remind me of these principles. Don’t worry, it’s just a picture of a skateboard I downloaded as background for my computer screen (I’m not senile enough to take up riding one—yet).

In business and life, why not “Skateboard” your way to a great and profitable week?
Robert Hidde
bob@confidentliving.com
roberhidde.com