The Transition Code
“I can’t wait to charge around the next bend of the river.”
These are the words of Rob Lesser, an adventure legend in the world of kayaking.
With that, I allow myself to sink a little deeper into the big cushy chair in a trendy event space — ground zero of the hippest art & commercial zone of downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. About 75 paddling enthusiasts and outdoor sports business people are here to watch a recently released documentary film about a far away whitewater river destination.
The film focuses on the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River which is found at the very bottom of a massively steep, remote canyon in northwestern Wyoming. The technical nature of endless miles of Class 5+ (on a scale of 1–6) continuous, boulder-strewn rapids is more than enough to test the very best paddlers in the world.
Class 5+ rapids are the precipice at what is considered runnable by a raft or kayak. A Class 6 rapid can’t be navigated, or it can but you’ll come out on the other end lifeless or not come out at all. This particular stretch of river requires paddlers to carry their 80 pound kayaks across a series of world class dry-land climbs.
The mindset and desire to discover “what is around the next bend” has always intrigued me. These explorers constantly re-write the coding in their brains. The human need for safety and certainty gets a new code. It’s a code that embraces change by facilitating more change.
This coding is embedded in all of us at different intensities. Can our coding be improved upon so as to stretch us to further pursuits? Absolutely it can, but it requires practice.
So often, we try to peer through the rocks that create the bends in our lives. I used the word “through” intentionally, because most of us stare deeper and deeper into the obstacle instead of looking for the path that goes around it.
People’s feelings vary about the bends in life — for some, it is scary, and others, it is excitement. One certainty is that river adventurers are proof we can improve our navigation of the bends in life.
Bends transfer the direction of energy. All good river runners, cyclists, race car drivers, and paddle wheel boat captains know this. The better that one understands the principles of the bend — for example, not staring at the obstacle — the better choices you will make to navigate change.
Your daily task is to practice these principles on smaller bends and then work up to larger ones.
Whether you are in a bend now right now or heading towards one just in front of you, try this — look at the path and not the obstacle.
What are your attributes and skills that can be used right now to navigate the change where you are today, right here and now?
This past week, Rob Lesser reminded me that the best adventurers are not necessarily the masters of their craft. They are masters of transition.
This week, be your own best adventurer.
With gratitude,
Hi, I’m Joe. I teach my clients the advanced techniques necessary to reveal talents which have been set to idle due to external and internal distractions.
I, then, transfer my Olympic Gold Medal performance strategies that streamline decision making and actions when engaged in complicated life currents with an aim towards the freedom of playing your own game.
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