August 31, 2016

“What no one could have realized at the time was how much Jeff and his team’s ignorance of the sport would turn out to be an asset”

— But Now I See by Steven Holcomb

This quote is from a book I am listening to and quite interested in.  The book is But Now I See by Steven Holcomb.  Steven is the driver of USA 1 Bobsled and an Olympic Gold Medalist.  He was diagnosed with Keratoconus which degrades vision and became legally blind (while still the driver of a sled going 90 mph).  Not only is this book a great story about overcoming a condition to restore sight, but it also has a parallel story about USA bobsledding that is fascinating to me. 

The USA at one time had to buy their sleds and equipment from the Europeans.  There were no sleds built in the USA.  It was no wonder that we consistently finished poorly, not only off the medal stand, but really never having a chance as we were using outdated equipment and no one was really taking the sport as seriously, in a gear or technical sense, as our competitors.  This all changed when Jeff Bodine of NASCAR was watching the Olympics when Herschel Walker was a pusher and the commentator pointed out this flaw in our team's equipment.  Jeff Bodine decided that he was going to change things.  

He didn't know anything about Bobsledding, but he had tremendous pride in his country and he did know about racing.  He did have a complete garage that could build a NASCAR vehicle overnight.  He committed to a task and got it done...eventually.  

I LOVE this quote above because it embodies my own career and what I have seen from so many others as well.  What may seem like the biggest weakness, challenge, hurdle, or giant mountain in front of you will turn out to be your greatest asset if you stick with it long enough.  In my case, I grew up in Tennessee and had never seen a bonefish, tarpon or permit in my entire life.  I had never been on a guided trip and had never once been to the Florida Keys.  There is no way that you could look at this situation and conclude that I was operating at a distinct advantage over my competition in my quest to become a bonefish, tarpon and permit guide in the Florida Keys.   It certainly wasn't an advantage...for 10 or 12 years. My competition grew up in Key West, they had fathers who were guides, they had been on the water their whole life.  My situation was one of almost complete impossibility, but I did have one crucial ingredient, passion and determination.  I simply wanted to be a fishing guide in the Florida Keys so bad that nothing was going to stop me.  One other asset that I had was a work ethic, an ability to endure pain and a never quit attitude forged by my wrestling background. 

I knew that I had to work harder than everyone else, 10 times as hard, because I had no idea what I was doing.  I had to learn more, faster than everyone else, because I knew nothing. I knew that I had to treat my customers better than they had ever been treated before, because they were the only ones that I had.  This developed a work ethic and passion for learning that became the normal, every day operating procedure.

In Steven Holcomb's book, the fact that Jeff Bodine knew nothing about bobsledding certainly wasn't an advantage at first.  His first sleds were slightly better than our old ones, but still no medals.  However, because he knew nothing of protocol, the way it had always been done or tradition, Jeff did what he knew how to do and used his resources to get a job done.  The result was something that the Bobsled community had never seen before.  Pit crews, engineers, the ability to change things instantly or rebuild the entire sled overnight became their normal operating procedure.

At first, this looked like a circus act and all the competitors watched in amusement, but Bodine and his team stayed with it and did what they knew how to do.  They knew how to make instant corrections toward improvement and they knew how to make things go fast. 

It didn't work right away, but eventually the fact that Jeff Bodine knew nothing about Bobsledding became the Team USA's biggest advantage.  In 2014 at Sochi, the Team USA sled, driven by Steven Holcomb won the Olympic Gold Medal.

Take Home Value:  Do not let ANYTHING intimidate you from doing something that you want to do.  No matter how impossible it seems, if you commit and stick with it, whatever your biggest challenge is today will become your greatest advantage.  This might be your health, your location, your education, your upbringing or your experience level.  It is definitely not going to happen overnight, but any of these things can be corrected and in that process, you may discover your advantage and dominate your competition. 

Do you have a story about how this has been true in your own life or in the life of someone you know?  If so, I'd like to hear it.  Send me an email at Permitfly4@aol.com

This morning 5:45 am

6 Mile Run as fast as possible

I finished 48:32, slower than I had anticipated.  PSC came in around 42:00, Mike D and Alan L beat me by a minute or two.  Good work!

Just do it

You can do anything that you decide you want to do.  Make the commitment and do it.  Burn the boats, go for it!  There are few things more unlikely than my story of how I became a professional fisherman and television producer.  If I can do this...you can do anything.

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I came across this email response that I wrote to a fan of our fishing show.  It is a very common question that I get and I thought I would post it here.  I know that most who read this blog are here for both mental and physical training information but this advice would go a long way towards making any dream come true.

It is my hope that anyone can take something away from this response.  If you have a dream, go get it.  Go after it and don't let anything stop you.  If you are not a fisherman, substitute fishing for whatever it is that you are into...the advice is just the same. 

Find your passion and pursue it.  Do whatever it takes.

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#1 question...How do I fish for a living?

August 27, 2012 at 12:21pm

A fan writes:

Hi Captains, I love the show. I'm 42 years and have a deep passion for fishing. Until recently, I worked 10 years for UM. But, I was never really happy because I wasn't doing what I love. I am interested in working on a charter boat. How difficult is it to begin this? Do you have any tips? What is the average salary? Do you know of any captain's having any openings, maybe even you guys? Thank you.

Robert Miranda

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My Response:

I get this question all the time.  When I say, "this question" and "all the time" I mean that I get some form of this question at least once per week and I have since reached the "tipping point".  The tipping point (read Malcolm Gladwell's book with the same title) is when things just change and tip in the direction of success.  For me, I reference the tipping point here as the moment when the outside world quit asking me when I was going to get a real job, or If I really thought I could make a living fishing, and started asking me questions like Robert just did. 

I guess that if you just continue to do what you love long enough, people just kind of figure that you are doing ok, or maybe it was the infectious positive attitude, or the 14 hour days that I never complained about, or that I was always doing 14 hour days for months at a time, and on the one day off that I might have, I would do an 18 hour day just for my own enjoyment.  Behavior like this is so contrary to the 9-5 punch a clock mentality that is so prevalent in our society.

Robert, I promise that I am going to answer your question...hang in there.

Sometimes, I find it a little funny that anyone would ask me for advice on how to get started.  It is funny because I did virtually everything wrong that can be done wrong and continued to do that until another "tipping point" where people just started assuming that if I had been doing it that way for a while, maybe it was the right way.

My father was not a professional fisherman or guide.  I did not grow up in the Keys or near the ocean.  I did not know anyone who had ever been a professional guide and I had only taken a couple of guided trips in my lifetime, from guides who were not people that I had any desire to emulate. 

No, I just started fishing and loved it.  When I say that I loved it, I mean it.  Fishing became everything to me.  When I was fishing, I had complete tunnel vision and laser focus.   Was able to learn at a rate that I never knew in school and for the first time ever, I had a passion, an unrelenting desire to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible in the shortest amount of time.  This was new to me.

High school was tough for me.  I had no idea what I wanted to do and even less of a desire to figure it out.  College was even worse.

However, I did take a risk and applied for a job in Yellowstone National Park for a summer.  I got the job and found myself packing for a summer in a place I had never been before.  One thing that made the backpack was a 8 1/2 foot 4 piece 6 weight Western Series Orvis fly rod.  It was cool.  I had no idea how to use it.

Once out there, I found my way to the Yellowstone River and managed somehow to tie a fly onto a leader. Having no idea what I was doing, I walked down the bank of the river  and looked into the water.  Floating 2 feet above the water was the most beautiful fish that I have ever seen.  It was a Yellowstone Cutthroat trout and it was precisely 19 1/4 inches long. 

As I stared at the fish and tried to understand how and why it was floating above the water, it hit me.  Far from the muddy TN waters, I was just beginning to understand the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.  The fish wasn't floating above the water, I had just never seen water this clear.  It was as if there was no water at all.  Confused, I started to put things together and the bottom, fish and surface of the water all began to align correctly and I realized that the fish was holding in the current about a foot below the surface.

Somehow, I managed to get my fly upstream of the fish and watched as he would not eat it because it was dragging unnaturally.  I tried for about 2 hours until I changed flies, moved and finally was able to get the right drift to the fish.  As Yellowstone Cuttroats do, he tilted toward the surface, and began to slowly rise toward the fly.  This fish knew something was not right and he drifted under the fly for a foot or so before actually opening his mouth and eating it.  Miraculously, I set the hook and caught the fish. 

When I landed the trout, I experienced an inner peace that I had never felt before.  As he slipped out of my hands and back into the river, I knew that I would be a fisherman forever.

So Robert, the answer to your question comes now, in sort of a Yoda type way.  Once I decided that I was going to be a fisherman in that moment on the Yellowstone River, I was committed.   So committed, in fact, that I probably should have been committed.  Nothing was going to stop me...nothing.

Not only was I willing to sleep in a car, scrub toilets, travel, work 18 hour days, make a fool out of myself, ask stupid questions, clean boats, hang around fly shops until they wanted to kick me out, work for free, be a camp cook, wash dishes, build fences, change bearings on trailers, take boat loads of firewood down class 2 whitewater, fix cars, teach flycasting for free, live in a commune with 20 other people, and many many other things to make it happen, but I did all of those things with a giant smile on my face.

I of course, like you, asked for advice and got plenty, but none that ever helped.  I looked for any help to try to make my dream a reality.  I am sure that some people probably gave me some great advice or contacts that may just not have made sense to me at the time.  The fact is that my story of how I was able to become a professional guide is quite the same as others I know that did it and continue to do it well.

Want the secret?  Well, here you go.  First, determine what you want.  You say that you want to work on a charter boat, others say they want to be a flats guide, an offshore guide, a tug boat captain, a trout fishing guide, an elk guide, a professional bow hunter...You name it.  The method is all the same.

Just do it.  That's it.  Just go out there and do it.

You are not happy with your job, your life, your situation?  Change it. 

Want to work on a charter boat...ok.  Go where there are charter boats.  Walk the docks.  Talk to the Captains and tell them you want to work for them.  They wont hire you?  Of course they won't.  You just showed up!  Stick around and take their shit until they do (you will be tested, because they will dish out ALOT of shit ).  Work for free, clean fish, scrub toilets, sleep in your car, LIVE in your car.  One day, someone wont show up and you will be in.  Then, you better work your ass off and make sure that the customers are happy, the boat is spotless and then clean it again.  Be the best mate that has ever been on that boat, on that dock, in that town, in that State, in the United States, in the World.

I cant tell you how long it will take or if that first dock will be the right place, but if you are committed, it will happen for you.  Make your decision and do it.  In my opinion, being happy, hungry and doing what you want to do is better than being safe, fat and unhappy.

That's my advice.  Take it or leave it

-Tom Rowland

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Related

Books worth reading

I just finished this one:

With Selection coming up fast, I have been searching out books on mental toughness, mental preparation and mental training.  This was a great one. 

I listened to this one while driving mostly but also on a long row.  It was full of stories from Olympic champions and other athletes that could help any athlete, regardless of level.  I fully intend on getting my kids to listen to this book as well.

With some books, the narrator can enhance or spoil, entirely, the experience for you.  The narrator in this audio did a great job and carried the story nicely.

I think that listening to one or 2 chapters at a time is probably the best way to fully digest the information rather than doing a marathon session.  Tons of great quotes are littered through this book and there are take away lessons for just about anyone; athlete or not.

I particularly liked the section on injuries and setbacks as I am going through one of my own currently.  So many amazing stories were recounted of athletes experiencing serious injury at their peak, but staying mentally strong and coming back 4 years later to win a gold medal.  These athletes used a disadvantage and made it an advantage, which has always been something that I encourage and have experienced in my own life.  Combined with extreme patience, they were able to make their dream a reality.

These stories provide motivation and inspiration to anyone experiencing any kind of obstacles in their lives or striving to reach a goal.

The one big takeaway for me in this book was something that the author went back to continually.  If you can see or admire greatness in someone else, you are only able to do that if you, too, have some of that same trait within yourself.  Interesting...

If you like these kind of books, check this one out.