Learning a new skill
Today was my first day to learn how to wakeboard.
I can barely close my hands, my forearms feel like jello, I could barely open the zipper on my laptop bag… and I'm loving every minute of it.
Not to mention today is Cinco de Mayo, which is almost an official holiday here in Dallas, and means I'm having a tasty margarita tonight!
While I was driving home from my first lesson, I realized the experience I am going through is much like the experience you go through with your online business… especially if you are still in the beginning phases.
First, when learning anything new in life, from playing the guitar to getting in shape, I always find a coach to shortcut the process and help me get results faster and easier than trying to figure it out on my own.
If you do not have your own Internet Business Coach yet, then all I can ask is why not? Are you not serious about your success or are you just playing around?
Second, before we even got in the water, he started by teaching me some fundamentals. First how to properly drive the boat. Then how to get up on the wakeboard by showing me first then having me practice. Next the basics to do once I am up.
Now, I'm sure some people would want to "screw these fundamentals" and want to jump right in the water and have fun.
They are the same people who wouldn't see instant success, blame everybody but themselves and never see them again.
Now it came time to get in the water and I was nervous.
Was I going to be able to get up, would I look like an idiot, would I be his worst client ever, and 100 other unsupporting thoughts were going through my end, including how cold is that water!!
I won't pretend, thoughts of "quitting" and just going home also crept in.
I put on the board and got in (water not so bad, yeah!!)
We get ready to go and my mind is trying to remember every detail, why am I trying to make this harder than it really is?
Off we go and I wasn't ready for what happened, as the board pushed through the water and I got up a little, the handle ripped out of my hands.
Hmmm, I'm going to have to hold into that sucker tight.
IMPORTANT LESSON NEXT:
What did Matt my coach do now?
Did he point out the 10 different things I did wrong, did he call me a little sissy for not holding on tighter?
Nope, he kept saying how great I was doing and how close I was to getting up.
I was impressed.
When starting anything new, you are going to screw up and fail, a lot. Just remember back to how many times a baby falls down before it is able to walk.
Is it your fault you are not an instant success at it?
Nope, it takes time to learn a new skill and "engrain" that into your brain so it becomes a natural skill to repeat.
Yes, at this point in time some coaching is definitely helpful. But MUCH more important is the positive encouragement so you keep moving forward.
The next attempt I got up for a few seconds and then went off to the right out of the wake and did a summersault.
More enthusiastic praise and encouragement from Matt and then a little more coaching on what I did right and what to do differently next time.
I was feeling pretty good.
Then we went 3 or 4 times in a row with me not getting up.
If it wasn't for Matt's continuous encouragement I would have become very discouraged.
Instead I keep focused on "testing" small changes each time and visualizing myself successfully getting up.
Then it all clicked and I popped right up and was off and running.
Now was time to use what he told me before we got into the water, how to position the board, my body and my hands and the rope.
Wow, it was so exciting to see it all come together, even though I'm sure I looked like I had a margarita or 3 before hand with all the wobbling around I was doing out there as I had my first experience standing on a little board, with my body twisted around, gliding on water behind a boat going 20 miles an hour.
After what seemed like an eternity (was probably all of 15 seconds) my legs were on fire, my arms were jello and I lost my balance and let go of the rope before I did a very painful face plant into the water.
Wow, the praise and excitement from Matt was at a peak. You would have thought I was his first client to ever get out of the water!
And like each time before, after the praise we did a recap of what happened, what worked and what I could learn from it.
We tried to go another time after that but by then my hands and forearms had enough.
While driving back in we talked more about what I did and learned. I shared with him some of the things I was trying and doing and he would say, yep, that's good or nope, that was what was causing you problems but I couldn't see happening.
When we sat at the dock and our lesson was over I felt like a success, even though I just got up 1 and 1/2 times.
And as I probed him to get a feel for how my results were compared to others he did a great job - he gave me both extremes so I knew I was not horrible (some people take 2 entire lessons or more before they can get up) but also the people who did great usually had past experience like skateboarding or snow skiing.
WHAT IF I DIDN'T HAVE A COACH?
I would be out there with a buddy of mine, who also had no clue how to wakeboard and extreme chaos would happen.
We would be driving the boat wrong and making everybody else mad, we would be giving each other bad advice on what to be doing, the guy in the boat would get frustrated with the guy in the water who "can't even get up out of the water" even though he has never done it himself either, I would be in the water beating myself up mentally and stuck in a negative feedback loop.
When that "blind leading the blind" opposite experience would be all said and done I may have ended up giving up on this whole "wakeboarding" experience and go back to the "same old same old" and find another dream to go after another day.
Unfortunately 9 times out of 10, the latter experience is what most online entrepreneurs experience. Of course they end up with little or no results and in most cases failure.
Just like me learning to wakeboard, you becoming a success online can be faster, bigger, more fun and more rewarding if you have your own coach.
If you want to see how you can have your online business coach, just like I have mine, then go to this site today.
http://www.internetbusinesscoach.com
~Kevin
P.S. I signed up with Matt's 10 session package because I know by the time we are finished I will be a successful wakeboarder, having a blast out on the water, and able to share what I learned with my friends who want to learn too.
For example, this first lesson (getting up) is like picking your market and setting up your blog for the first time. Doesn't seem like a big deal but most people never even get that far, they spend their entire lives watching wakeboarding videos on YouTube, talking about how they are going to learn and everything else (except for actually DOING something.)
Then lesson 2 I will learn how to "cut an edge" and move around while I am up and jump out of the wake. That is like creating your product that your market wants to buy that you will sell them.
Then, eventually, after you finish with your last coaching session you will be the online marketer who is making sales every day and have mastered ways to get traffic, build your list, generate "revenue on demand", have a lucrative backend profits and more. You are in all aspects an online success.
The first step is to recognize that having a coach is the smart thing to do and take the first step in getting one by going here.
http://www.internetbusinesscoach.com
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