I spend a lot of time trying new things. My history is littered with many discarded hobbies, ideas and flights of fancy. All of them were EVERYTHING at the time. I’d put a lot of effort into them and then one day I just wouldn’t do it anymore. I don’t know why I’m like this but I’ve come to expect it from myself now.
In the past (and this isn’t an exhaustive list!) but I’ve been into martial arts, Painting, Playing guitar, surfing, Growing Bonsai trees… I got to a half decent level with some of these hobbies but nothing stellar. For example, I played in a few rock bands, competed in a few martial arts tournaments and missus has hung one of my paintings on the wall but nothing really you could write home about. Some of these are still kicking around and lurk at the back of my mind just waiting to be picked up again – most notably surfing – but the rest are nothing but tales to tell now.
I think I like being a beginner. It’s exciting! It’s all new and there are things to discover If I muck something up, it really doesn’t matter because I’m a beginner! No-one is expecting great results from me so I’m free to play and experiment. I spend hours watching videos on YouTube and in discussions in Facebook groups. I read websites and practice, practice, practice.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” –Shunryu Suzuki
I used to teach photography (that was a hobby that grew into something beautiful) I used to give this corny and much overused piece of advice a lot “Try, Fail, Try again, Fail better”. And to be honest, this was really at the core of how I approach new things.
Skateboarding is a relatively new challenge for me. Whilst I’ve been riding my longboard for around a decade now, the skateboard (and tricks) are a new thing. There’s a zen phrase “Empty the cup” and it basically says that if you go into something already thinking that you know everything (your cup is full) you can’t learn anything new (no space left in your cup). So with skateboarding I had to empty my cup of all the longboard knowledge. Obviously somethings really helped, I already had some kind of balance, I was used to pushing a board around and the sensation was similar but that’s where it ended. I had to adopt a full on beginners mind.
I set myself challenges every time I work. Ideally, I approach everything as though it’s the first time – with a beginner’s mind and an amateur’s love. — Willem Dafoe
This meant going back to the very basics. First step was getting used to rolling around the skatepark on a much smaller board. Just pushing off, cruising, turning and stopping. Learning what the wheels can negotiate and what they can’t. It’s not a lot if you’re wondering, the smallest stone can stop you in your tracks and I’ve found myself doing a Superman impression on a few occasions.
The next thing I attempted were tic tacs, not the small minty sweets, but a maneuverer where you lift the nose of the board off the ground by pushing down on the tail and shifting your weight so you move the board to the left and right. A very basic thing, and something that people who have skated for years probably don’t even think about doing , but it’s still something to learn and I couldn’t have learnt this without taking the time to get comfortable on the board first.
It was a small step forward, almost an unnoticeable one but a step forward nevertheless. If we now fast forward a bit I’m learning how to ride mini ramps and I’m learning how to do kick turns on the ramps. I’ve got the hang of going face first on to the turn (confusingly called going backside) and I’m now learning how to go the other way (front side). I’m really struggling with it, it just feels so unnatural going backward down a ramp on a skateboard and that mental block has really hindered me. So I thought back to when I was learning backside kick turns and how I approached it. Did I go full-on into doing 180 degree kick turns? No, I started small. I was just riding up the ramp and doing a wide turn and going back down again and all this was done very low on the bank. So why did I think I could just do the frontside without any issues and get all frustrated when I couldn’t? My cup had filled up again. It had filled with all the other stuff that wasn’t relevant to what I was doing.
I basically had a word with myself, emptied my cup and started really small. Really low on the ramp and only doing small turns and this is where I am now. The mental block about going backwards down the ramp has disappeared and I can consistently do little turns on the ramp. It’s another small step, another little piece of progression, that will now allow me too just work on the technique and improve.
It felt great doing these tiny little turns, I felt really proud of myself that I’d taken another little step forward. I still can’t do 180 front side kick turns but I am failing better each time.
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