My friend Jim is a car nut, racing guru, and a fantastic teacher. On our way to lunch, he tossed me the keys to his sports car and told me to drive.
As we merged on the highway, I punched it, and it punched back with the force of 500 ponies. Approaching some cars ahead at get-thrown-in-jail speeds, I backed off and laid into the breaks.
“Why’d you do that?” he asked.
“Did you want me to hit them?”
“No, I wanted you to race.”
I laughed, “You’re going to have to teach me how…”
“Racing is about taking the shortest distance between two points. Your problem is that you’re focusing on this guy in front of you. There’s not a damn thing you can do about that guy. Racing is about looking out ahead. When you’re moving fast, it’s about how you can project better than the other cars on the track. You can go miles and miles and never have to tap your breaks.”
He taught me to look for the apex of the next corner I was taking, and reduce my inputs to hit it just in time. Instead of chasing the curve lines, I was able to minimize the amount of wasted energy and friction.
In a matter of minutes, I was twice the driver I had been by following his three simple principles:
1. Look further ahead
2. Don’t overcorrect
3. Push through the corners
If you do these things, you can take the traffic and turns faster without slowing down.
Good business is just like racing.
Are you slowing yourself down by making too many rapid movements?
Are you hitting the breaks because you didn’t look far enough ahead?
Do you have the confidence and momentum to push through your next turn?
If you’re not sure, consider employing Jim’s principals of racing, and remember, you can’t do a damn thing about the things right in front of you.
I see many checkered flags in your future.
Cheers,
BW
