How many times have you heard “it’s like riding a bike, once you have done it, you never forget?” It is a comforting thought, but other than the fact your brain draws on what it’s been taught, my worry is that we never fully understand what we have been taught. We are just happy with the fact we are able to stay balanced. No idea why, Just Happy! Psychologists define this place where information is stored so it can be retrieved easily as Declarative Memory.
- After a series of trial and error [e.g., scratched knees], the right way to ride a bike is stored in your brain. Don’t do it right and you fall!
Unfortunately we have limited ourselves, if we never actually understood what we have learned and are happy with what we have stored in our Declarative Memory. In business and in sports this contentment is a form of complacency. We are strictly being happy with the Outcome with any idea of the Actions it took to get the results we are looking for. Obviously not falling and scratching our knees is comforting when it comes to riding a bike, but what if the knowledge we were given was incorrect. Hitting a baseball is a perfect example.
- I personally believe hitting is just as simple as riding a bike, but if you jotted down all the variations coaches are blurting out (e.g., wait longer, take it the other way, shorten your swing; many contradictory) it is no wonder we fail. Rather than understand what it takes to hit, we allow our Declarative Memory to be filled with fallacies and preventing us from truly understand the actions to hit a baseball.
Image for a second if we are learning to ride a bike for the first time, and every family member is flooding us with as many instructions a hitter receives the moment we step into the batter’s box. If this was the case, I am not so sure I would have ever learned how to ride a bike.
- Keep your eyes on the baseball
- Keep front shoulder closed
- Relax the front elbow. Relax the back elbow
- Weight on your back foot with slight bend in both knees
- Keep a firm front side
- Keep your head in the middle of your body
- Swing Palm up, Palm Down
The lesson learned: Whether we are attempting to write a winning proposal, trying to hit a baseball, or ride a bike, take a few minutes to UNDERSTAND what we are trying to accomplish!
Check out Smarter Every Day’s “Backwards Brain Bicycle.”
Until next Blog,
Al McCormick
