We all question our ability at times.  Uncertainty plagues us.

It is even more intense if the ability we are questioning relates

to something we have never tried or not succeeded at in the past.

 

Set backs are common, but we rarely welcome them.  We are

inclined to respond negatively to adversity.  It may be time to

revisit that reflexive response.

 

I had an experience recently that caused me to reconsider whether

a negative response to adversity is always justified when I was

confronted with a life-threatening situation.

 

It was mid-morning on a warm and pleasant Saturday.  I was in the

midst of my first skydive of the day.  It was my 2,123th jump

since having taken up the sport fifteen years ago.

 

After about one minute of freefall and 5,000 above the ground, I

parted ways with my fellow jumpers to get far enough away from

them to open my parachute safely.  I initiated opening around

3,000 feet above the earth.

 

My parachute opened with some twists in the lines between the

parachute and me.  This is not that uncommon.  What was different

this time was that I was not able to clear the twists.

 

The twists in the lines caused my parachute to take on an

asymmetrical shape.  Receiving asymmetrical inputs, the canopy

did what it is designed to do and initiated a turn -- that's how

it's steered.  The problem occurred when the turn quickly became

a rapid, diving downward spiral that was spinning me a full 360

degrees about once every second.  This was a problem.

 

I looked up to assess my canopy and saw something I don't often

see - the horizon clearly visible ABOVE the trailing edge of my

canopy.  This meant my canopy and I were now on roughly the same

horizontal plane.  In that I could see the horizon behind it, I

was actually above my parachute and it was leading our fast

spinning parade rapidly towards mother earth.

 

My first need was to acknowledge that I was not going to be able

to solve this problem.  This is not as easy as it seems.  Having

successfully completed over 2,100 jumps without having to resort

to my second parachute, it was hard for me to believe I had

really encountered a problem I could not solve.  I had a natural

inclination to assume I could fix this problem as I had all those

in the past.

 

Sound familiar?  It's always easy to lapse into denial when

confronted with a problem.  Until we acknowledge the problem and

our possible inability to solve it - or to use the methods we

have used in the past - we don't have a chance of making things

better.

 

Fortunately, the urgency of this situation caused my hard-headed

nature to yield much quicker than usual.  That decision probably

took a second or two.

 

The next step, having accepted the need to follow a different

course than in the past, was to determine the course.

Fortunately fifteen years of training and practice before every

day of jumping took hold.

 

I looked straight down at the two handles on either side of my

chest - one to release me from my malfunctioning canopy and one

for deploying my reserve parachute - and realized I needed to

quickly get them in my hands.  I could not help but notice when I

made eye contact with them, as had been ingrained in me during my

First Jump Course way back in 1988, that by now the rapid spins

had turned me back to earth and there beyond my toes was once

again the horizon.  This was bad!

 

Time was of the essence at this point not only because I was now

rapidly progressing toward the horse pasture below me, but also

because the centrifugal force I was starting to experience would

soon make it impossible to get my hands to those two handles.

 

With my hands now securely on the handles, I was confronted with

a bothersome question, "Now, which one goes first."  The wrong

order could cause my reserve parachute to deploy into my spinning

main parachute which would result in an incurable entanglement.

 

Fortunately, ingrained training once again took over and I pulled

them in the right order.  First the handle on the right side

which released me from my spinning main parachute followed by the

handle on the left side to deploy my reserve parachute.

 

This brought on a wonderful experience.  My malfunctioning black,

teal and magenta canopy was replaced with a bright, yellow never

before used reserve parachute.  What a lovely sight!  And all

this by 1,700 feet - plenty of time to spare.

 

Many years ago, I read a book about the challenges and

responsibilities of Secret Service agents.  One of the sad

aspects of that profession is that agents who never have the

chance to validate their years of training by responding to a

threat sometimes struggle severely in retirement.  They are faced

with not knowing - with certainty - how they would respond when

faced with the paramount challenge their career can deliver.  For

this reason, agents who have faced such a challenge successfully

are admired within the culture of the Service.

 

That Saturday morning, I had the privilege of facing a similar,

life-threatening and I now realize life-defining challenge.  I

faced what Secret Service agents call "the dragon."

 

For all of us the greater dragon is not the external threat,

whether it be an assassin's bullet, the unforgiving and fast

approaching earth or another challenge.  The real dragon is the

self-doubt we carry within us.

 

For those few splendid moments after landing safely, I was able

to put my foot firmly on the neck of the dragon ... and it felt

great.

 

Keep this in mind the next time you are confronted with

adversity.  On the far side of the experiences the adversity

presents, there could be a valuble gift - a renewed confidence

and certainty.

 

(c) 2004, Jim McCormick.  All rights in all media reserved.

 

Jim McCormick draws on his engineering degree, MBA and experience

as a Chief Operating Officer of an international design firm to

help organizations improve performance.  He is co-author of

Motivational Selling, editor of 365 Daily Doses of Courage and

author of the forthcoming book Seize Opportunity - A Practical

Guide to Taking Advantage of Opportunities.  Jim is also a three

time skydiving World Record holder and was a member of an

international expedition that skydived to the North Pole.  More

information is available at http://www.TakeRisks.com and

970.577.8700.