As I was going for my run in the park today, I chanced upon a boy who was training throwing a discus. The first thought that came to my head was... wow I've never seen a discus in real life...only in statue format.
Here's a photo to jog your memory.
Right. Anyway after thinking that I noticed that the boy was training quite hard and obviously wanted to throw the discus as far as possible. However, as I continued to run I realised that there were some limitations to the consistency of his throws.
I hypothesised that the furthest discus throw would be one which was really at 45 degrees (I think we learnt that in highschool - but i'm not sure), that the discus needed to be released properly (direction) and travelling as fast as possible. I also knew that the child would not be able to see this himself, but luckily his mother was there watching him and coaching him where possible.
As I thought of this analogy I couldn't help put this into philosophical use for life and perhaps business as well. How do we as the boy with the discus with our goals which are to achieve the best yield on our future often fall down and have inconsistent results?
Following the analogy - it could be because of the following points which I reflect on.
Angle / Perpsective:
The trajectory and intention should be aligned. In other words we need to know where we are actually aiming in order to look for the projected outcome. Coming from a forecasting background I was always surprised when I learnt some people didn't plan to the minute! However, we all know that this is a difficult thing to do. I suppose the idea is just to check that there is alignment between the intention of your goal and the actual goal so as not to have a nasty surprise at the end.
Speed / Momentum:
The better throws are always the ones that are fully committed to and where there is a lot of weight behind. This is quite similar in basketball where the phenomenon of 'driving' to the basket uses the shift in momentum to create a momentary opportunity. How committed are you to your course of action and how much effort and momentum do you have? Conversely if you've got momentum what are you doing with it!
Release/ Letting Go:
Watching the boy I was surprised to see that a few of his throws totally lollipopped or wobbled high up into the air or didn't really go anywhere because he released the discus too too late. All that wasted energy! What are we doing that hold us back from letting ourselves fly? What makes us hesitate? How can we remove these barriers!
Coaching / Second Eyes:
Finally, there were lots of things that the boy couldn't see that his mother was able to pick up on. She was obviously not an expert but was able to give him some feedback. Therefore there are two learning points here. Firstly, choose your coaches wisely and make sure they're going to be able to help. Secondly, any feedback is better than none. How open is your organisation to the feedback process? How open are you to criticism or correction and is this holding you back from flying?
Finally, as I came to the end of my run (special thanks to Eliza for being my inspiration from a far) I realised how much good exercising really does for your body and the mind! May have to take up discus throwing next!
Jono
P.S. If you do want to read about discus dynamics, click HERE
www.whatsupjono.com
Here's a photo to jog your memory.
Right. Anyway after thinking that I noticed that the boy was training quite hard and obviously wanted to throw the discus as far as possible. However, as I continued to run I realised that there were some limitations to the consistency of his throws.
I hypothesised that the furthest discus throw would be one which was really at 45 degrees (I think we learnt that in highschool - but i'm not sure), that the discus needed to be released properly (direction) and travelling as fast as possible. I also knew that the child would not be able to see this himself, but luckily his mother was there watching him and coaching him where possible.
As I thought of this analogy I couldn't help put this into philosophical use for life and perhaps business as well. How do we as the boy with the discus with our goals which are to achieve the best yield on our future often fall down and have inconsistent results?
Following the analogy - it could be because of the following points which I reflect on.
Angle / Perpsective:
The trajectory and intention should be aligned. In other words we need to know where we are actually aiming in order to look for the projected outcome. Coming from a forecasting background I was always surprised when I learnt some people didn't plan to the minute! However, we all know that this is a difficult thing to do. I suppose the idea is just to check that there is alignment between the intention of your goal and the actual goal so as not to have a nasty surprise at the end.
Speed / Momentum:
The better throws are always the ones that are fully committed to and where there is a lot of weight behind. This is quite similar in basketball where the phenomenon of 'driving' to the basket uses the shift in momentum to create a momentary opportunity. How committed are you to your course of action and how much effort and momentum do you have? Conversely if you've got momentum what are you doing with it!
Release/ Letting Go:
Watching the boy I was surprised to see that a few of his throws totally lollipopped or wobbled high up into the air or didn't really go anywhere because he released the discus too too late. All that wasted energy! What are we doing that hold us back from letting ourselves fly? What makes us hesitate? How can we remove these barriers!
Coaching / Second Eyes:
Finally, there were lots of things that the boy couldn't see that his mother was able to pick up on. She was obviously not an expert but was able to give him some feedback. Therefore there are two learning points here. Firstly, choose your coaches wisely and make sure they're going to be able to help. Secondly, any feedback is better than none. How open is your organisation to the feedback process? How open are you to criticism or correction and is this holding you back from flying?
Finally, as I came to the end of my run (special thanks to Eliza for being my inspiration from a far) I realised how much good exercising really does for your body and the mind! May have to take up discus throwing next!
Jono
P.S. If you do want to read about discus dynamics, click HERE
www.whatsupjono.com
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