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I’m back coaching skiing again after several years off. I love being out there on the hill and teaching this sport. There aren’t many sports out there that are as dynamic, fast and fun as ski racing. It’s a place where we see real progression with the kids through the year.

I last coached in 2009, and the thing that is blowing me away this time around is the quality and quantity of videos on YouTube about the subject. Here’s a small sampling of what I’ve found so far…

Mikaela Shiffrin breaking down her keys to a good training session:

I’ve watched Dahron Ralves lay out his warm up sequence.

Deb Armstrong just being an awesome and enthusiastic teacher:

And I’ve just recently watched “Ski Dad” (love that) break down carving in his family room with some chairs and kitchen stools.

One of the ideas that Mikaela Shiffrin spoke about above in her video was being a student of the sport.

This such an important concept for anyone who is training for a sport. Being in the mindset of a student speaks allows one to be coachable. Beyond all of the physical qualities that contribute to success, I’ve come to believe that being coachable is one of the best qualities to have – it constantly puts you in the mind of continual experimentation and improvement.

Good on the German team.

It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us.

Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position. pic.twitter.com/tiQKuE4XV7

— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) November 23, 2022

We’re barely into the World Cup and the soccer has been great already… upsets! Beautiful goals! Angst about the US!

You also need to watch this Last Week Tonight from John Oliver about the Qatar 2022 World Cup

“FIFA: A cartel-like group of scumbags and assorted criminals who ocassionaly put on soccer matches.”

There is a much longer post related to the World Cup I’d love to write about universal human rights… but I need to get my thoughts figured out here first.

This might be the most “get off my lawn” blog post I could possibly write, but here goes.

I just wanted to say thank you to all the newsletter operators out there who take the time to format their newsletters for plain text in addition to HTML.

I get why everyone is doing newsletters now instead of blogs. The need to drive engagement and track impressions, and analytics and so on and so forth.

But please… think of all your users and customers. Some of us prefer plain text, and more might use it if it were an option. Plain text strips away the distraction and the fluff and lets me just read…

Reporting live…

Our household is pretty excited about the first snow of the year – October 14, 2022

Opinion | A Lost Manuscript Shows the Fire Barack Obama Couldn’t Reveal on the Campaign Trail – The New York Times:

That’s a shame, because reading “Transformative Politics” today is a bracing experience.

This is a great article – well worth reading.

Next Step Focus – Farnam Street:

Where you focus can hold you back.

Focusing on the outcome makes the gap between now and the finish line seem larger than it is.

Yesterday I wanted to go for a long run. That little voice in my head said “Imagine running for 90 minutes. Dude, you didn’t sleep well, and that’s a lot of effort. Let’s save our energy and check Twitter instead.”

Taking the first step seems impossible when the gap between now and your desired outcome seems large.

Changing your focus changes the size of the gap between now and achievement. When you shrink the gap, doing what you know you want to do becomes easier. I was focused on the gap between now and 90 minutes from now. The gap I needed to focus on was between me putting my shoes on and running to the end of the block.

This happens with my kids all the time too. They often come home with a boatload of homework that takes them hours. When they focus on the gap between getting home and being done, getting started is hard. “I’ll never get all this homework done.” When they focus on doing the first exercise, action becomes inevitable.

Don’t focus on writing a book. Focus on writing a good sentence.

Don’t focus on getting healthy. Focus on cooking a healthy meal tonight.

Focus on the next step.

I should read this advice from Shane Parrish at the Farnam Street Brain Food newsletter every day. And share it with my kids and students.

If you’re not already subscribed to their blog/newsletter/podcast – I highly recommend it.