Over the weekend, I had a chance to try out wakeboarding. I love learning a new sport because I get to practice learning in real time. Sure, academic and knowledge learning is great, but I think it lacks the visual feedback. And sometimes, those visual feedback is just so useful.
How Lisa Learns
Watch someone who is competent at the sport to do with ease to overcome any potential limiting beliefs that it is a challenge
Understand the theory of how it works
Put that theory into practice. Do it 1 step at a time
With every fall, understand why the fall happened and be mindful of that 1 change in the next trial
Master 1 step before moving to the next
Viola. Learnt!
Wakeboarding
To be fair, I think yoga helped me to learn wakeboarding much easier too.
I saw my friend Masood wakeboard and it looks so effortless and easy. It’s simply to stand up and then be dragged by the boat. I asked the instructor about the theory of how to stand and he was also kind enough to explain in details. I tried it and clearly being me, I wanted to start standing and playing like a pro. And that only resulted in falling into the water time and time again.
“Slow slow slow”
Slow has to be the word every instructor uses when teaching me a sport. Be it surfing, wakeboarding, tennis, yoga, golf. I’m learning! I really am.
So slowly but surely, I mastered how to stand. Keep your knees bent and just allow the rope to pull you up. Once up, look at the left and you’ll move out of the strong wake. Stand up straight and keep the board at a 12 o’clock position. And viola, that’s it. Bend to go faster and further, straighten to enjoy the ride.
With every fall, I asked the instructor what went wrong and he corrected my move, 1 at a time. I focused on baby steps. Out of the water → moving out of the wake → standing → standing straight → board at 12 o’clock → hips out → going faster and outwards.
I can only learn so fast because I have a system of learning, but more importantly, I saw how effortless easy the sport could be. I understand why people watch others play sports now. It helps with the belief that life and sports can be simply so effortless and easy. Of course, the sign of an expert is where one is able to do the sport looking effortless. That’s my definition of expertise. May I be like that some day.
Love,
L