Leaning Into Success
By Cheri Ruskus
Are you a leader? Do you wake up each morning and allow your intuition to guide you towards the projects and tasks that you know will make this world, your world, an even better place? Do you move against fear as naturally as breathing?
Jack Canfield in his book, The Success Principles, talks about it in the aspect of “leaning into it”. He describes it as follows:
“Often times, success happens when you just lean into it – When you make yourself open to opportunities and are willing to do what it takes to pursue it further – without a contract, without a promise of success, without expectation whatsoever. You just start, you lean into it.”
When thinking about leaning into something I can’t help but conjure up a visual of waterskiing. Crazy as that may, seem perhaps that was my first strong example in life of the rewards of leaning into something. My family grew up waterskiing, as my parents both loved the sport. Many a family weekend and vacation were spent at a fresh water lake of one sort or another. Of course I remember the thrill of getting up on two skis for the first time when I was about 8. I had joined the ranks of my brother, sister and cousins of being a “skier”. No longer did I have to go on the water toboggan with the other “little ones”, I could then be out behind the boat by myself.
After spending a couple of summers getting really comfortable on two skis it was time to go to one ski. Soon I would find that this whole new challenge was almost harder than learning how to initially ski. Perhaps it was because I had grown comfortable in knowing what to do on two skis. There was something about the dragging momentum in getting out of the water that just was so much harder. It was like all of a sudden I weighed a thousand pounds and could not get dragged out. Discouragement filled every fiber of my being, leaving me wishing that I had not strayed from my beloved two skis!
Giving up however was not an option as my Dad spent hours turning that boat around and around trying to pull me out of the water. But get dragged out I finally did! Miracle of all miracles I popped up on top of the water on one ski! It was as if I had just been flung onto the top of the world. I was so elated!
My Dad who loved to encourage us to go to the next step, faster and stronger, as he drove the boat, then began to motion for me to get outside of the wake behind the boat. I can remember hearing him holler above the roar of the boats engine, “Lean into it”. It took me a few outings on the lake before I would even consider what he was saying. “Lean into it” I would think, “I am barely up on one ski, how can I possibly do any more than this?” But of course being in a family of water ski enthusiasts I knew that eventually there would be no choice but for me to finally go outside the wake.
I can remember the day it happened, so well! It was a beautiful summer day on the lake. The sun was shining and the crystal clear water was a smooth as glass. Watching my dad start his motioning towards the right side of the boat I felt the fear well up in me again as I thought about going over the wake. Visions began to reappear of many a skier who had eaten it going over the wake including my cousin, Eddy Paul, who had broken his leg one year right at the beginning of summer. Suddenly though, it hit me, that not to “go for it” was going to be much more painful at that moment in my life than just leaning into it and letting the edge of my ski cut into the water. Go for it I did! And suddenly there I was, going over the wake and finding the freedom of the lake before me!
“Now what!” I thought to myself, “What else should I do now that the protection of the wake is gone?” Suddenly my dad’s words rang strong and true, “Lean into it!” he yelled as he pointed towards the side of the boat. The time was right, and I found myself naturally bearing to my right side and incredibly gaining a speed that I had never had behind the boat before. No longer going with the flow of the boat, there I was, creating my own speed. I was breaking free! My fear was gone, leaving me totally digging the thrill as the edge of the water ski sliced through the water. The farther I leaned the faster I went. It was exhilarating!
That summer I got even better and faster, leaning so far into it that I got to the point of almost touching my ear to the water. Learning to see past my fear brought me a joy and competence level I had not known before. In thinking of it now, prompted by these words of Jack Canfield, I can’t help but equate the thought of how leaning into those things that initially bring us fear can in turn, bring us to success in many areas of our life. You just never know the momentum you can gain when you let your intuition take hold, allowing your faith and belief in your abilities to achieve that which you thought you could not.
What is before you in your life that you have been resisting? What has your intuition told you to move towards that you have perhaps ignored, letting fear get the upper hand? As you move towards the things you want to have happen in your life – things as natural as breathing, start to lean and let the pull of gravity bring you towards your many successes along your way. As Winston Churchill once said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.”