Two recent events coincidently transpired to inspire this post. The first was this piece of art I happened to notice in a coffee shop.
Both the image and the message caught my attention given that it spoke to both what I love and what I do.
The second occurred the next day when I awoke to yet another crazy wind and rainstorm that we are having here in Northwest. The news was reporting and issuing flood and high wind warnings. There were mudslides closing train routes, flooding closing streets, snarling traffic and delaying schools. It was a full-blown weather event.
I was faced with a choice, bike to work as I had committed to do or succumb to the wild weather outside and drive or bus. I chose the former and here are the 6 things I learned about navigating challenging conditions along the way.
- Goals: Without a goal I would have never ridden my bike. Having a known and communicated goal, whether it a BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious, Goal) or a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound), having a goal is an absolute must. I have committed to riding at a minimum of once a week and as much as possible beyond that minimum. This crazy weather day happened to fall on the only day I knew I could ride this week. I had no choice, I had to ride to achieve my goal for the week.
- Prep for success: You have to give yourself the best chance to succeed. I had made the investment in updating and outfitting my bike for this kind of weather in advance of it arriving. I had the right clothing to keep me warm and relatively dry. I had lights to see and be seen. In other words, I invested in the stuff I needed to give myself a chance of being successful when the moment came to face adversity.
- Don’t believe the hype of everything you see/hear/read: The news and weather were making it sound pretty crazy outside. Yet when I got out in the elements it was definitely a little intense but not insane.. The weather was actually warmer, which explained the high winds. I was also lucky to catch a window where the rain was not a full-blown deluge. I was collecting my own information rather than relying exclusively on the proverbial expert reports.
- Assess the risk and press into your perceived discomfort: I am really fortunate that the route I take to work is fairly safe in terms of the potential for trees blowing over in the wind, cars not seeing me due to less visibility and slippage due to steep inclines or sharp turns. In other words, I don’t think I was unnecessarily endangering myself by choosing to ride. The fear of what I would encounter based upon what I heard and observed was actually a lot more than the reality of what I experienced during my ride. So I’m glad I proceeded despite the butterflies I had in the first few minutes.
- Accept the things you cannot change: So the wind was blowing 30 MPH steady, with gusts to 50 MPH, directly in my face. The wind was coming out of the south, which was exactly where I was headed. There is obviously nothing I can do about changing the wind direction. Sure I could spend time and energy wishing it to be different and thinking about having the wind at my back was kind of exciting, but what good does that do me? I just had to accept what was, downshift and peddle harder, or change course, which was not an option. I definitely couldn’t spend any time or energy trying to change what I couldn’t.
- Track your progress in some way: I am a huge fan of measurements (Key Performance Indicators) and data to give you visibility into how you are doing. I know this route well and ride it often (IE where the half way point is). However in the pouring rain, howling wind and dark morning I could easily lose perspective on how I was doing. My KPI came from my speedometer to give me data on my trip. At times I felt as though I was literally not making any forward progress, yet my speedometer told me I was. In the end the trip only took 10 minutes longer than usual. So despite it feeling like it was going to take forever, the data actually told me a different story than my own.
My ride that day served as an experiential learning opportunity for the quote I had read the day before. Hoping for the weather to be different so my ride would be smooth was a waste of time. I had to learn how to ride in high winds. Along the way I realized the six keys to me for making a challenging situation relatively successful. I hope they serve you well, especially those of you that are courageous enough to try facing something outside of your comfort zone.