People think expertise is about doing and learning more and more. But often it’s about focusing ever more intently on the basics.
Continuing the theme of my previous post of life lessons of skiing, I have been mostly skiing with my kids for the past few years. I haven’t been skiing the deep powder or off-piste tree runs where I used to spend all my time. Instead, I have been following my kids down the beginner and intermediate slopes.
But this past weekend, I got a couple hours to ski by myself, and found that I have actually improved as a skier.
Why? Because I have been using the time on the easier slopes to focus on the basics.
I was talking to a beginner skier a couple weeks ago, a dad learning to ski with his kids, and gave him a piece of advice that changed his comfort level immediately, which was to focus on getting his weight above his downhill ski. Similarly, I told him to lean forward to help get the front edges of his skis to carve into the snow to help him turn.
The funny thing is that these are the same tips I focus on for myself. When I feel myself losing control on a high-speed turn down a black diamond run, I remind myself to lean forward and get my weight over the downhill ski.
But the way to really build those habits into muscle memory is to slowly and deliberately do it under easier conditions, like, say, going down an easy run behind my kids. Because it’s safe and slow, I can really intentionally focus on those cues, and carve a perfect turn through the snow. Each turn is another repetition to train my nervous system to do the right thing. And having done so many of those turns, my body automatically does the right thing when flying down the mountain at 30 mph.
I used to think getting better at skiing was about continually throwing myself at harder slopes to test myself. But I found myself struggling to get down those slopes because my basics weren’t sufficiently grooved.
Similarly, expertise isn’t just about doing more difficult challenges. It’s about deliberately building the basics to be so perfectly automatic that they create the strong foundation for you to handle those challenges when they come.