Consistent Persistence
***NOTE: This post was originally written on January 5, 2019 on the way to Tokyo from Nagano.
It’s the start of my 3rd full season of snowboarding and I’m on the way back to Tokyo after having pushed past my limits on the board for 3 days in Hakuba. That also means that I smacked the icy hard snow numerous times (not everything is fun and powder). While that resulted in massive whiplash and an extremely sore body, it was well worth it because I can confidently say that my snowboarding skills improved in the following areas:
“Giant” at Cortina | Hakuba Valley, Japan | Photo By: Ian McCreery
Double Blacks: I was finally able conquer gigantic moguls sans a single spill having to resort to falling leaf noob stuff. If you’re not keen to mountain speak, a double black diamond is an expert level course and falling leaf is when you’re riding heel edge instead of carving (heel-toe).
Switch: I started to ride switch (my non-dominant side, which is goofy) for the first time. By the end of day 3 on the mountain I could get down steeper greens (beginner) and blues (intermediate) with an occasional fall. This skill is necessary for advancing in the park and mountain, being able to ride for longer periods of time, and just feeling really comfortable on your board in general.
Jumps: I can now consistently hit jumps (multiple in a row too) with solid landings and decent air. Next step will be to add grabs and shiftys, hopefully by the end of the season. A bonus would be to do a 180 if I’m able to master switch.
This was originally going to be a post about snowboarding, but since it’s dark outside and there’s nothing to look at I’m starting to think about what else I would like to accomplish this year. I came across this article, “Why Consistency And Persistence Are Two Vital Ingredients To Success,” where Tony Fahkry opens with a strong statement made by Thomas Carlyl on the subject, ‘Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.’ Honestly, there’s no way you can become great at anything if you’re not continuously executing on something and still doing it even in the face of adversity. I’m sure I’m speaking for more than myself when I say this, my level of skill in something is always directly proportional to the amount of time I invest into practicing and learning said skill.
For a majority of my life I would consider myself a jack of all trades, master of none. I dabbled quit a bit in various interests, but never took the time to get really really good at something. Even down to my major in college, Biomedical Engineering, I still felt like I only knew the basics of the engineering and science disciplines by the the time I graduated. Something I’ve also become self-aware of is that I am often more successful in my accomplishments when I have a routine. Failing to have a consistent routine results in my mind wandering off in La La Land and forgetting to do the things I meant to get done, which then makes me discouraged the next day when I realize I’m behind on my goals for the week.
To tie everything together, I would say snowboarding is the one thing that has taught me about how impactful the forces of consistency and persistence are. In the short amount of time I’ve been boarding, I would consider my skill level to be about equal to someone who has been boarding twice as long as I have. This alone has given me motivation to also exercise consistency and persistence in the following:
Photography: I picked this up 4 months ago out of necessity for my business (which I’ll talk about more in a later post). So far I’m really enjoying it, but I have so much to learn before I feel even confident saying I’m decent.
Writing: I’ve always sucked at it, but here I am writing this post to get better at effectively communicating my thoughts and ideas in a clear and concise way, that’s also not boring. I believe being a skilled and creative writer will help me immensely in all facets of my career.
Regulatory: So I’ve never actually been in regulatory in the medical device field, yet I somehow have it in my job title. I’ll be working with a couple mentors as well as attending workshops this year to try and master the art of regulatory. If I can do this, I can start seriously thinking about completely working for myself as a consultant in regulatory and quality.
Self-Care: I working on this a lot last year, but honestly, I could still use improvement in this area. Anyone who knows me knows that I am always on the go, running a million miles per hour. Instead of taking the time to read a book, write, meditate, or just go to sleep at a normal hour, I’m busy packing my schedule full of events and hanging out with friends. My bicoastal life and excessive travel has also resulted in a lackluster workout regime as of late. For me, being in shape is an essential part of being able to maintain high levels of energy and focus. I’ve learned over the past few months that taking time to myself is absolutely necessary to find peace and be less stressed in my chaotic life. In the end, even if I were to only focus on this one thing, reaching my other goals would be much easier.
After this bit of self-reflection, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s nice to be a jack of all trades in some scenarios, but not all. I’m going to be spending a lot of time honing in on the skills that I’m most passionate about to become a master of...some.
