Advice from the Weatherman

by bsrubin on January 12, 2013

I’m in Steamboat Springs these days – with a primary purpose of starting Revv with Derek.  Tools to Make Change Easy.

Secondary purpose – to ski!

I pretty religiously check the weather forecast and plan days out accordingly.  This behavior is indicative of my overall agenda to know things, direct things, and control my life.

I Have No Idea What’s Going to Happen

So when my favorite Colorado ski weather guru dropped this quote – it really struck me:

“I HAVE NO IDEA what’s going to happen beyond next Sunday/Monday, so don’t commit yourself to a life of misery and flip-flopping emotions and simply embrace the feeling of not knowing the future.   It’s really a wonderful thing to let go of the 10+ day forecast and instead live for the moment. And this piece of advice is coming from a weather forecaster…”

Meteorologist Joe Gratz

If living in the moment vs. planning and controlling is a delicate balance – I generally lean a bit too far (ok – sometimes waaay too far) on the control side.

So Plan – then Live in the Moment

Here is where I’d like to be:

I make grand plans, set goals, and develop skills and habits to achieve and grow.  Then I live in the moment and am really open to what comes up.  I don’t worry about the future – I know that I’ll be able to handle whatever arises with grace.

This holds in many areas of my life:

  • Don’t worry about where I’ll live in the future.
  • Embrace the magic of romance.
  • And last but not least – don’t worry if it’s going to snow in two weeks.  It will be cool either way – and eventually it will snow :)

Ironically the area of my life with the most uncertainty - starting a new company from scratch – is where I worry the least about the future.  I know I’ll be successful in my professional pursuits.  I accept that I don’t know precisely how and there will be twists, turns, and dips along the way.  So work hard every day.  This attitude has been trained over years of success, failure, planning, throwing out plans, and soaking in advice from the best entrepreneurs on the planet.

Time to apply it to the rest of my life.

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  • http://twitter.com/DailySuicide Jscott

    This was what Leo was skirting around but not getting quite accurate about when he talked about his concept of “no goal.”

    It is inaccurate however.  It is not not “no goal.”  It is no attachment to outcome.

    I believe Art DeVaney mentioned something in his summary of the Tao.  Something like we can accurately project trajectory.  That is about it.  

    I lean toward control and tight reigns as well.  I thought that caused my stress and neurosis.  I was wrong.  Attachment of my self worth to the outcome was my issue.  Detachment gave me an odd sense of peace.  Though, be warned, it also led a girlfriend saying, “Your odd sense of detachment to end results is…well, you have sociopathic tendencies.”  Indeed.Hope you got some skiing in.  

  • Anonymous

    I think you are right on.  It’s the attachment to the outcome – not the striving – that is self-defeating.  

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