Take a deep breath. Imagine yourself just before you dive. Your muscles are as tense as guitar strings, your nerves are dancing, but the water is calling. Diving helps you learn how to control both your thoughts and your body. A small mistake or movement can convert a clean entry into a huge mess. Some athletes are obsessed with getting the ideal rotation, while others only want to avoid belly flopping. See more on Adam McManus Etobicoke
This is something skiers know. You look down at a steep hill with your skis tilted. The wind howls. Snowflakes hit. The mountain doesn’t care at all about knees that shake. You jump into the playground of gravity, cutting through the frigid air. Every turn might be a win or a fall that puts snow in your thermals. A nanosecond away from perfect, and you’re doing cartwheels while everyone on the chairlift gasps. That’s one method to get to know them.
Change gears. Tennis is like chess with fluffy yellow pawns. You need quick hands and feet. You can rally, lob, and smash, but time is the most important thing. Watch a pro serve: a blur, a grunt, and a ball that kisses the line but doesn’t go an inch out. If you miss your rhythm, you’ll be eating clay or cleaning rubber off your shins. Whether you’re sweating on a hard court or squabbling with birds at a clay tournament, the tension between danger and calculation comes back in the form of racquet strings.
So, how does this have anything to do with money? A lot, in fact. Think about making a budget. Put your monthly figures on the table, and then the bills come at you like an unseeded opponent swinging wildly at match point. Are you planning to invest? That’s a slalom through changing conditions. What seemed safe last year now moves like bumps in the fog. You have to jump in without knowing if the pool has water or if your skis will get stuck on ice you can’t see.
The similarity is clear and chaotic at the same time. Being able to change is better than being brave in both sports and business. You think you’ve gotten better at your job—a new racket, a new way to save money, or a new way to dive—only to find out you’re still a beginner. Innovation doesn’t wait for things to be easy. People who have played tennis in the heat or ridden a chairlift with their accountant know that the stakes are high and mistakes hurt.
Getting a terrible investment might hurt as much as getting a backhanded tennis taunt. Some people call it “managing risk.” We call it life. Sports teach you how to get better quickly, whereas finance teaches you how to wait. A good run doesn’t mean you’ll keep winning. After a hard day, treat yourself to a hot chocolate or count your remaining limbs, whichever works for you.
And don’t forget that no one wins by themselves. Divers depend on their coaches. Skiers have faith in their wax techs. People who save and people who spend both want counsel. Laugh when things go wrong. Don’t let defeats be the end of the story. Like sports, numbers never end; they just keep going, tempting you to play again.