For those of you reading this blog for the first time I tell stories. It is through these stories that we learn tips, tricks, and discuss thoughts about training and coaching. This narrative format allows for the best versatility in learning. When we listen to a story there are many different parts of the story that can teach; ten people can listen to the same story and gain ten different meanings from that same story. This allows for maximum training for each participant in the shortest amount of time. This same idea does wonders for learning from blogs. The story teaches, the story we remember, the story is the blog.
The story this week involves me, some fish, waves, and the ocean. Now many different things could have happened to a person in the ocean, some bad, others just unexcpected. I am sure that many of us have seen the waves at the ocean; these waves come in shifts. Most are small but there are a few that are larger than others that come to the shore at varying intervals. Under normal conditions one can see the large waves coming in and take the necessary measure to ensure that one is not submerged under the wave. Unfortunatly for me in this instance I was being pursued by a school of vicous, flesh eating fish. These fish kept chasing me all over the beach taking nibles of my back at the most unsuspecting times. I found them to be super aggravating.
It was during this time as I fought of the fish that a larger than normal wave came into the beach. My first inclination that a large wave was inbound was the sudden wet feeling I had on top of my head. The second realization about the wave occurred shortly thereafter when I was underwater. Not being at all prepared for the wave and the subsequent submersion I came out of the water spewing water and coughing. It was an unexpected but rather amusing sight. At least the people on the beach laughing at me seemed to think so. At the very least I was able to cause some folks on the beach mild enjoyment and laughter.
I learned from this story that as we are engaged in the act of training we can become distracted by the little pesky things that do not work out just right. These pesky distractions then cause us to miss out on the larger picture or to be completely caught off guard by something that we should have seen. When the computer does not work or most the class shows up late we can become distracted. It is important to deal with disraction in the training environment but not at the expense of the big picture. We should not let the little things affect the big or we will all end up underwater.
