That time I faceplanted

When you hesitate, you fail. 

I shared this sentiment 7 years ago when I wrote #GIRLBOSS (can you believe it’s been 7 years?!), and it’s something that has proven to be true over and over again.

It was when I was snowboarding as a teenager that I experienced this for the first time. I was a pretty good snowboarder… at least until my brain got involved. As soon as I thought “oh shit, what if I fell” or felt any kind of resistance, I’d faceplant. 

But when I disinvolved my brain? I focused far ahead of my board, noticed but didn’t fret about the others on the mountain, and let the entire thing turn into a moving painting. My mind didn’t flinch, and my ass didn’t plant. Time slowed down.

I’ve been relearning this through a new hobby: yoga. I’ve been practicing nearly every day for a couple of months now. It’s been humbling, to say the least (I can still only juuust touch my toes in a forward bend), and it’s transformed my nervous system profoundly (that’s an entirely separate newsletter). 

There’s a word for the kind of focus I learned to cultivate while snowboarding. The Sanskrit word is drishti, which describes the method of gazing at a focal point in yoga practice. There are a lot of deeper reasons for doing this, but the most basic reason is to help you balance. It’s simple: find something to stare at and keep staring at it, and you’re less likely to fall.

This goes for business as well. According to the Harvard Business Review, people who were described as “decisive” were 12 times more likely to be high-performing CEOs. Often, it’s not about the right move -- but instead moving forward, confidently, with gaze trained upon the big picture. 

Wheels Up,

Sophia