You first need to create the Potential for success

In this Newsletter I Share what I Learned from Taking the Principles of Winning in Sports to Winning in Business

The Back Story

At twenty-four years old (after already being married for nine years to a government mafia man and getting divorced), I took up skydiving.

For the next dozen years, I immersed myself in training, traveling, and competing to become an elite extreme sports world champion on the U.S. Parachute Team.

The skydiving form I trained in was the Style competition.

There were three different sets to perfect. Each set had six moves – like a gymnastics routine.

Style is one of the fastest mind/body sports in the world. It’s the epitome of mind/body focus—you’re all alone in the air, with only 26 seconds of airtime, falling at about 200 mph.

I was the first US woman to win multiple gold medals in the World Meet for the U.S., competing against the best from thirty countries.

The most important lesson I learned was that I had to create the Potential for success;

Here is the premise:

Great Potential and Great Function: from Soul of the Samurai, by Thomas Cleary

“Great function appears because of great potential. Because this potential is always there within, when it is natural, an extraordinary speed occurs; this is called great function. When a potential is unripe, the function does not become manifest. In all paths, when concentration builds and exercise is repeated, potential matures, and great function emerges. If you build up effective exercise, the potential will mature. Potential is energy. Mind is the inside; energy is the entrance. Since the mind is the master of the body, it should be understood as that which resides within; energy is at the door, working outside for the mind, its master. Therefore, the potential is something very important. If this potential is working, it emerges outside and the great function manifests.”

How I learned: “Great Potential—Great Function”

The best place to train was Raeford, North Carolina, next to Ft. Bragg, headquarters for the Army Golden Knights Parachute Team. People worldwide come here because it offers the ultimate experience in disciplined training. At the time, I owned a parachute center in Coolidge, Arizona, but I sold it along with almost everything I owned to make this happen.

When I arrived in Raeford, I was intimidated from the start, as I was the most inexperienced jumper training in Style.

Within about a week, I wanted to leave. I was so intimidated and out of my league.

One day, a former well-known world champion flew into the airport in his Cessna 180. This master watched me perform on the telemeters, where he could see my body perfectly, even though I was falling at 200 m.p.h.

After some time, he approached where I was packing my parachute.

He said, “I can see you have potential. You have the body for gymnastics with a natural ability, strong will, and energy.”

I listened, and he became my coach. He dedicated himself to all who wanted to follow his unorthodox training; however, not many liked his outside-the-box theories. Most took the normal, safe path. I trusted in the unknown.

The Daily Ritual

When I started training with my coach, I spent almost the entire year practicing just one move he wanted me to perfect – and it had nothing to do with the actual gymnastics set.

He said I first needed to build the potential to become a World Champion, and train in a way no one else did. The first item of training was to fall faster than anyone else before I started my Style set. I had to build a totally new foundation to do this.

This new foundation would be to leave the airplane and go into a vertical, head-down dive to gain more speed than usual. No one did this.

(Usually, a competitor leaves the airplane in a squat position with their knees up so they can see the heading. Style is based on an exact heading, and if you’re off the heading, you’re disqualified before you even start. In the squat position, you cannot fall as fast as a head-down dive.)

If my head-down dive was not lined up exactly on the heading, I would be disqualified.

Perfecting the dive was very difficult because when you flip over into a dive, you are now looking backward at the horizon – away from your heading. Disorientation is huge. This was why no other competitors started their Style set like this. It’s just too risky.

During this dive, I had to focus during the few seconds I had while falling at 200 m.p.h. to get ready to slam into the first turn and subsequent maneuvers of the Style set.

I had to make hundreds of jumps just to learn the foundation and technique of this dive.

I had to develop vision throughout my whole body, form eyes in the back of my head, and feel and intuit my positioning.

And then with each subsequent manuever it was the same routine – practice for hundreds of jumps to perfect each move.

Through this training, I started developing extreme focus.

I learned that by developing a solid foundation, I was creating my potential to go beyond what everyone else did. This one lesson has become the central point for any endeavor I take on, not only in sports but also in business.

Think of your own lesson on creating your Potential. It will be the key to your success in sports and business.