I’m a skier. (Have I mentioned that? ) And I’m really fortunate in that I get to schedule the odd week day off and enjoy a day on the hill. There are a lot of life and leadership lessons to be had on a ski hill one of them was made very clear to me today. The importance of taking time for maintenance. Right after lunch today I took off into changed weather. It had been damp in the morning but it was colder now and started to snow. As I took the first post-lunch run I discovered that the skis I’d been on that morning without any ill effects were complaining that they hadn’t been tuned up in far too long. The first run down was a lurching, grabbing, sticking, thigh burning nightmare as the unwaxed bases tried and failed to slide smoothly on the snow.
At the end of the run I was exhausted. Legs burning from compensating for the uneven jerky progress of the skis.
Nothing for it but an emergency pitstop at the tune up shop.
40 minutes of missed fresh snow later the turns were again effortless and I was back to loving my favourite sport.
Life’s like that too, as you make progress toward your dreams if you don’t take time to tune your equipment with regular replenishing maintenance you’re going to run into changing conditions you just can’t navigate because you’re plain worn out. Some of your essential actions need to be taking care of you!
What are your self care routines? I know I’ll be taking time out to wax my bases so I can slide through the sticky spots from now on! And it’s a wonderful reminder that my own practices, meditation, writing, exercise, time with friends, long hot showers, (and the odd day off for skiing!) are an essential, not to be missed part of making progress.