Watch Out for that...Treeeee
Posted on July 04, 2010 by Tom Patterson, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.
Seeing the long view, the broad view, the whole view...and not just the tree in front of you...
When my family and I were still living in Northern California, I was blessed with miles and miles of world class “single-track.” Single-track is the term for mountain biking trails that are roughly the width of the bike. They can be slow and curvy, long and straight, steep (and very fast), strewn with logs, jumps, rocks, root systems, streams, ruts, sudden drops, etc., and pretty hazardous to your body if not negotiated well.
There’s a weird, counter-intuitive thing that mountain-bikers learn along the way: the more you focus on the hazards, the more likely you are to hit them! As the theme song from George of the Jungle put it: “Watch out for that…treeeeee!!”
My most consistent downfall (so to speak) was to over-focus on the hazards. Many times my body flew over the top of the handlebars (the infamous “endo”) because my focus on not colliding with a tree or a rock made it difficult for me to take in the whole terrain, and ironically resulted in a collision with what I was trying so hard to avoid. Even if I managed to avoid a mishap with one hazard, my over-focus would leave me unprepared for the next one. It is exhausting to move from focusing on one hazard, to the next…and to the next.
When you have more of a “whole terrain view,” your body moves more gracefully and easily since you have already taken in the whole of your surroundings (allowing you also to take in what lies pretty far ahead). In taking in the whole terrain, you’ve sent a message to your body well in advance of your encounter with various obstacles. Eventually, with a lot of work, you can learn to ride through some very convoluted landscapes fluidly (click on the video link in the left-hand panel).
Whether negotiating single-track, parenting a family, or leading change in an organization, the same kind of “whole terrain view” will change the way you function, and how you navigate the things that might otherwise stop you in your tracks. If your primary focus is on the obstacles in front of you, your energy and attention will end up being absorbed by them. The irony, of course, is that—in focusing on not letting them trip you up—they will become the very things that set your agenda and define how you operate (thus, tripping you up).
As you think about some of the landscapes you’re working hard to negotiate, what would it look like to step back, take in the broad view, look a little farther down the trail, and clarify your vision of where you ultimately want to go? As your vision comes more sharply into focus, what would it be like to have that vision act like the broad view in sending signals to yourself that make all those potential obstacles navigable?
This is what I enjoy so much about coaching: helping people take a step back, take in the broad view, get a clearer picture (vision) of where they want to be going, and then work with them to create steps that will help them to actually get there. I’d love to hear from you, if you feel like you’re about ready for this kind of shift in your life!
