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Painful Landings and The Head

I joined the swim team in high school, but quickly found that I wasn’t designed for the monotony of swimming laps. Since I was captain of the team, I couldn’t very well quit, so I decided to try something a little more exciting. I gave diving a whirl. This seemed like a good idea at the time. I had always wanted to be a gymnast, and figured diving would be gymnastics with a much softer landing. WRONG! If you have ever had the misfortune of doing a belly flop, you know that water is anything but soft when you hit it wrong.

I didn’t attend one of those wealthy schools that had bungee chords and trampolines for practice. No, we learned the old fashioned way. Through trial and painful error, or what I like to call “trial and terror”.

I learned really fast that if I wanted to minimize painful landings, I had better figure out how to execute those dives before I ever stepped onto the board. I would watch video, and study diving diagrams for hours before attempting the dives myself. I learned to get the image of what to do with my head, hands and body, and the timing of all of it crystallized in my mind, before ever leaving the diving board.

My instructor drilled into me that every dive is ultimately controlled by one key part of the body. The head. The head is the heaviest part of the body, so wherever it goes the body will follow. I found this to be very true. The timing and speed that you drop your head in a dive dictates when a spin will begin, and the speed of that spin. The direction you move your head 100% controls the direction your body will go in the air. If you drop your head forward, you will rotate forward. If you drop it backwards, you will rotate backwards. If you turn your head to the right in mid air, your body will begin to rotate to the right into a twist.

Life and business are not all that different from diving. The planning time to align the head with the execution of the body is the most important part if you want to avoid painful landings. Funny how many people skip this and go right to execution!

As I mentioned earlier, I got into this one page planning process to help entrepreneurs grow their companies. I would help companies simplify their plans down to one page, and put accountability behind them. When we did this, employees were more engaged and excited about their work, important things got done, companies became more profitable, and life was good!

However, if the company goals were not aligned with the owner goals, this entire process fell apart. We could put a beautiful plan together that the employees were excited about, but if it wasn't ultimately what the owner wanted, leadership wouldn't follow through and support it. This was more damaging than doing no planning at all!

There are many sayings about the leader’s or owner’s role in the success or failure of a company. Sayings like “The tone is set at the top” or, my personal favorite, “The dead fish rots from the head”. The business owner is without question the head. Where the head goes, the business will follow.

The low dive, back and 1/2 tuck was the most painful dive I ever attempted. Coming out of the tuck too early in the dive lands you flat on your back with the wind knocked out of you. As if feeling like you’ve slammed into concrete isn’t bad enough, add to that the inability to float because of airless lungs. It amazes me that I ever tried that dive more than once, having experienced that painful landing. But persist I did, and after multiple excruciating landings, I finally got it right.

What I learned from that persistence was a principal I have used throughout my life. In order to get 1 and ½ flips executed and land properly with fully extended arms above the head, it required spinning so fast that there was no way to rely on sight to determine when to come out of the tuck. The entire dive had to be conducted in blind faith relying on the timing and force of throwing back the head. In diving, much like life and business, EVERYTHING is controlled by the head. To avoid painful landings, your plans must be aligned with the head.

Remember “seek ye first the kingdom of God” when building your plan. What is God's plan for your life, for your business? What has he called you to do? Sometimes you have to go on blind faith like the back and ½. Sometimes you may not be able to see a safety net, but if you stay in the will of God, your safety net will appear. Build your plan around him, no matter how scary it might seem, because he will back you up if you step out in faith with a plan that is aligned with what he has called you to do.