Lessons I learned as a ski bum
When I was 18, I didn’t go to University right away.
I worked night shifts in a 7-11 next to rowdy bar, and regularly dealt with aggressive, drunken people in the middle of the night. Why? Because I had a plan….
I was saving my money so I could buy a little trailer, and a season’s ski pass to Whistler, and save enough money so I could ski every day and have fun every night, without working or doing anything. I wanted to be a ski bum.
I remember that it seemed to take forever to save enough money to go. I was so impatient to get started! I remember when I was finally ready to quit my job and leave for Whistler, I was so excited, I could hardly stand it.
When I arrived in the parking lot at Whistler to park my trailer, I hooked up my trailer to the power cables so I could have some light and a little power (At the time Whistler had free electricity hookups for people with camping cars in their parking lots).
On that first day, I remember looking out at the other camping vehicles in the parking lot, and watching the sun set, and feeling an immense satisfaction at having achieved my goal.
The next day, the sun came out and the conditions were great. I skied with a smile on my face and was chatty with everyone on the chair lift. Life was great! All the scrimping and saving, all of the dealing with drunken idiots in the middle of the night, all of the things I deprived myself of in order to save for this experience…it was over! I had done it! Now I could enjoy myself and play. I had earned it.
Lesson: Delayed gratification makes success (when it comes) more worthwhile. Or as my wife likes to say, Beer tastes best when you have hiked all day.
Lesson: Having a clear goal in mind can really help you to overcome the difficulties that you are facing now. There s a light at the end of the tunnel.
Lesson: It’s OK to do something different from what others are doing. It doesn’t matter if it works out or not, but it’s important to try.
[Stop here if you like the typical happy ending.]
At first, I went out skiing every day, whether it was sunny, cloudy, with fresh snow, or not. But as the days went by, a strange thing happened; I slowly started getting kind of picky about when I went out skiing. If the conditions weren’t perfect, I’d stay in my trailer and read, or go for walks in the village. Unless there was a fresh dump of powder snow and the sun was shining, I’d stay around the village.
It took several weeks of this when I finally had to accept that I was getting a bit bored with skiing, and the lifestyle I was leading. I couldn’t believe it! After all the dreaming and imagining, after all the long nights of denying myself to make this happen, now that I had this amazing chance to do what I wanted every day, it wasn’t quite as fun as I had expected. After a few months of this, I packed up and moved to Vancouver to be with my friends.
Big Lesson: Habit dulls the edge of pleasure.
Smaller lesson: The idea of the thing can be more powerful and meaningful than the thing itself.
I still love skiing, and I like to go when I can, but when I do go, I appreciate it all the more because it’s something special.
What does this have to do with business?
Well, not much or a maybe a lot, depending on how you think about things like goals and objectives. I think the most important takeaway from this experience was that regardless of the outcome, it is worthwhile to dream of something you want to do, and then do it (particularly if it is hard).
I still look back at the whole experience as an overwhelmingly positive one. And I have replicated that process with other things in my life that I’m proud of.
There are a few things that have given me more satisfaction than achieving goals for myself, the greatest of which is helping others to achieve their goals. But I’ll save that for another time.
Offered with respect and admiration to all those who are on their way to a goal, and to those who have reached them.
Eric Cole
Nice article Eric!
Retail, licensing and brand management
4 年I've been a Ski Bum for about 8 days this season -- not as many as I'd like but better than zero. And based on your tale Eric Cole, perhaps, just enough. :-)
President of Winery Productions & Executive Director at One Young World Japan
4 年Love this! Instant gratification is a huge problem in my opinion. We need everything NOW and have forgotten how to appreciate the journey and the target itself. Thanks for sharing, Eric.
??? Marketing Maverick & Strategist
4 年Most people afraid to be alone with their own thoughts for a quite a long time. And for those of you who might think that daily hour commute will be enough, I'll disappoint you... Nope, it doesn't count. It's human nature after all - we all have to be with somebody near. But a real miracle happens when you really disconnect yourself from others and their opinions, thoughts, presence, perceptions, "projections" you name it. Don't wanna sound too banal and prosaic, you've heard of it before but it Jesus spent 40 days in the desert... I think this is another takeaway from Eric Cole's experience. And it is very important one for me. I quit my 100K job during pandemic and most of my friends told me that I'm crazy. But you know what, after 3 month of spending my time doing the things that I've been postponing for years, I feel happy as Pharell Williams :) I think from time to time we all need have the guts to hunt our dreams and more important, we all need to stay alone at least for a week or two, disconnected from all types of communication, observing feelings and emotions, thoughts and aspirations buried deep enough that no Psych can ever find it. Thank you, Eric, you've made my day! I started this morning with reading your brilliantly written & inspiring story! ??
Helping leaders and their teams maximize team leadership effectiveness for results. I'm an experienced CEO, Mentor to Entrepreneurs, Transformational Leadership Trainer, Speaker and best-selling Author.
4 年Brilliantly organized and communicated Eric. I really enjoyed both "the story" and the lessons learned. Thanks!