Lessons from Summertime Kayaking

This weekend, my husband and I and Tammy and her husband had the opportunity to go kayaking on the Puget Sound. What a lovely time - it was so wonderful! Great weather, peaceful breeze, great company, good exercise, and just plain fun. At the end of the evening, we even recorded an impromptu video promoting the October 9th conference for Christian business women! Here we are:

As we got going with our kayaks, I quickly fell behind the others. It was the first time I had been in my own, one-person kayak. My thumbs were painfully hitting the fiberglass edges of the kayak and that was the obvious sign that my paddling left much to be desired. I studied the way I was paddling to see what I was doing wrong. My conclusion was this:

• I was not fully extending my arms on each stroke.
• My paddle was going too shallow into the water.
• I thought I knew enough about what I was doing and didn't take the time to have anyone show me before we took off.

After I contemplated my rowing problem and what I need to do to correct it, a lesson hit me. How many times do people have these same "rowing", or progression problems in their lives and businesses?!

Not fully extending - giving a business, project, goal, or relationship a mediocre effort and short-cutting discipline or not being whole-hearted.

Going too shallow - Just skimming the surface of what potentially could be. Thinking small can slow down our progression.

Taking off without getting a proper lesson -You think you know, so you go, then it's slow...oh no! Tearing down pride and asking for help can be difficult, but then again, so can falling behind.

To me, this was a lesson about effort and mentoring. Without mentoring and wisdom, we expend a lot of effort and have minimal results to show for it. I was reinventing the wheel, and it wasn't working real well. With mentoring, we can start out right, use good technique and feel more confident that we're moving in the right direction. And, we can save ourselves from some pain!Posted by Krista Dunk, www.KBWomen.com