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… because if you look at the rock, you’ll run right into it. I promise. Let me explain…

The Story

I recently took a 5-week whitewater kayaking course. Kayaking is a blast. It can be very dangerous (despite what Into the Wild might have you think), but it’s complete and total fun and exhilaration once you get the hang of it. Nothing beats spending a day on a wild and scenic river. You’re peaceful, relaxed, and quiet one minute and the next minute, adrenaline is screaming through your veins while you’re screaming through a rapid. On the first few trips, though, we (the students) kept running into everything. That’s to be expected when you don’t even really know how to paddle straight in moving water, but even once we got the hang of that we still kept running into stuff.

The instructor would tell us, “There’s a big rock on river right. Be sure to squeeze left of it, or you’ll get stuck.” So we’d start paddling down the rapid, spot the big rock they told us about and try our best to squeeze to the left of it. Then we’d run smack into it. Almost every time. No matter how hard we tried to avoid things, we kept running into them. Then they told us a secret, and after that I didn’t run into the big rocks anymore (that’s not to say I didn’t flip or take terrible lines down the rapids. I did. But I didn’t run into anything they told us to look out for).

The secret didn’t involve any paddling trick, some weight-shifting maneuver, or how to lean the right way (all of which are actually important). The trick they told us was this:

Quit looking at the rock. If you look at the rock, you’ll hit it. Know the rock is there, but instead of looking at it, look where it is you want to go instead. If you look where you want to go, you’ll go there, and you won’t hit the rock.

They were right. We were concentrating so hard on the rock that we unconsciously steered the boat right for it. The harder we tried to avoid the rock, the more likely we were to run into it. Once I stopped looking at the rock and focused my attention on where I wanted to go, my skill improved dramatically, and I had a lot more fun. And I stopped running into the stuff they told us to look out for. Finally I was going where I was trying to go instead of getting stuck on obstacles.

The Moral

I think the parallels to life are pretty obvious. When you’re working at something — be it a business, school, a hobby, or a personal goal — there will be big rocks that you’ll have to avoid. The key is to not look at them, not dwell on them. If you spend your time thinking about them, you’ll run right into them. Instead, just know they’re there. You don’t want to be oblivious to them, but don’t dwell on them.

Focus your attention on where you want to go, and you’ll stop running into the obstacles and start moving in the right direction. You’ll get a lot better at whatever it is you’re doing, and you’ll have a heck of a lot more fun, too. I guarantee it.

Got a good story about running into stuff (metaphorically or not)? Like to kayak? Have other advice? I’d love to hear about it! Just leave a comment below.