I love to ride horses over jumps. The process is exhilarating. I was thinking
about jumping on horseback the other day and I recalled from many years ago the
words of a riding instructor talking about show jumping with horses. He said,
“When you hear the jump rail get clunked by your horse's hoof, DON'T LOOK BACK!
Keep both eyes forward and focus on the next jump, you can’t fix anything back
there!
That
“clunk” sound is very distracting to the rider. It is a dull thump of hoof on
wood that all riders recognize. It means one of two possible things have happened.
The rail has only been ticked and is still up and the rider will not be charged
with faults (penalty points) or, sadly, the rail will fall from the jump standards
and the rider will be charged with faults on her ride. Not only is the sound distracting,
the temptation to turn to see if the rail came down is powerful. It blurs the
rider's focus on the next fence. A rider already has his eyes and attention on
the next jump as he clears the rail directly under him. Timing is critical and
focus is imperative.
Good timing and good concentration.
So you are starting to see the analogy already. Competing on a horse in a jumping
class is much like the way we all do our jobs or run our businesses. The jump
class is a series of jumps of different types over a mapped course. The horse
and rider are a team that meets each challenge head on.
Your job is to
be prepared to do the best you can on each jump in your day. Sometimes we tick,
knockdown or crash on the jumps in our way. The riding coach has the right idea
when he says, don't look back. He means the next jump is coming quickly from the
future to the present and the past jump is history. The past is water over the
dam, under the bridge and out to sea. You need to focus on the next hurdle with
all of your power of concentration. The time for analysis of what happened is
later, when the round is over. Too often, we get hung up on what has happened
instead of what is happening right now and what is the next hurdle. We know that
we can't change history but that doesn't stop us from dwelling on it. I don't
suspect my horse has spent much of his day worrying about which jump rail he knocked
down. He is only concerned with the matters at hand, that being the next jump
or his next flake of hay. Why is it that horse sense comes easily only to horses?
When you understand the importance of today, here and now, you are focused
and ready for progress. When thoughts meander back to “knocked rails” from previous
experiences you increase the chance of losing focus and repeating the same mistakes
from back at the last jump.
Keep the words of the savvy horse trainer
in your mind has you pass over your jumps today. . .Don't look back!
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