TRIAL AND ERROR… I was just thinking about the notion of trial and error as I watch PRod and Chris Cole battle it out in this Dew Tour Skate Jam I’m watching in lue of the Today show this am [too much terror and negativity]. The old adage goes “If you do not succeed, try try again”. But the concept of trial and error takes on a whole new meaning in this context. These dudes are battling hard. And the consequence to their ‘error’ is hugely greater than the consequences most of us face on a daily basis if we screw up. If they fail, the punishment quite likely involves a broken extremity or even death in some cases but in life, the consequences to our failing [yes, it can vary but on average] usually just means getting flustered or annoyed. And in most cases, the consequence is not even a consequence, it’s just a method we use to get to an answer. Or what we think could be the answer. But in the context of action sports [get ready, I’m setting up my metaphor for a way of living], the Chris Cole’s of the world are balancing real consequence on a daily basis. They’re in the limelight, doing amazing things each and every year. The impact of what they are accomplishing changes and sets the tone in their communities [action sports, skateboarding, etc…]. Everyone remembers Jamie Thomas’s leap of faith (breaking his board each time); if you had any interest in skateboarding at the time then you remember how it turned the industry upside down and on its head. I posted a video of Eero Ettala’s winning X Games run a couple days ago. [As once an avid rider], if you said to me 5 years ago that switch 1260’s, double cork 1080’s and switch double-backs would be a regular part of riding vernacular I would have said BS. But the truth is it is, and in another 5 years these tricks will be old news and new innovators will set a whole new tone once again. And this is a very necessary component of the action sports category. It’s rooted in innovation. It cannot exist without it. What creates innovation in the above is the high degree’s of consequence [or risk]. Big consequence [risk] leads to big innovations [usually]. Sometimes high degrees of consequence leads to high degrees of lameness [not to knock Jim Rippey’s ‘Rippey Flip’ or Apple for the lame-ish ipad, but unnecessary consequence does happen], generally speaking. Of course most of us are not professional athletes but the idea of consequence is still applicable. And the notion of risk is even more applicable. Just thinking about myself for example and how often a skirt consequence [just sit there with my head down] and take the safer approach, meanwhile knowing in the back of my mind that the risker approach or action is the better one. How do you approach life? Are you a Jamie Thomas or something else? Are you working to create a whole new vernacular/tone in your job? Or even better yet, in your life? If action sports is consequence dependent…how do we make our lives and the things we do more consequence dependent?

TRIAL AND ERROR…

I was just thinking about the notion of trial and error as I watch PRod and Chris Cole battle it out in this Dew Tour Skate Jam I’m watching in lue of the Today show this am [too much terror and negativity]. The old adage goes “If you do not succeed, try try again”. But the concept of trial and error takes on a whole new meaning in this context. These dudes are battling hard. And the consequence to their ‘error’ is hugely greater than the consequences most of us face on a daily basis if we screw up. If they fail, the punishment quite likely involves a broken extremity or even death in some cases but in life, the consequences to our failing [yes, it can vary but on average] usually just means getting flustered or annoyed. And in most cases, the consequence is not even a consequence, it’s just a method we use to get to an answer. Or what we think could be the answer.

But in the context of action sports [get ready, I’m setting up my metaphor for a way of living], the Chris Cole’s of the world are balancing real consequence on a daily basis. They’re in the limelight, doing amazing things each and every year. The impact of what they are accomplishing changes and sets the tone in their communities [action sports, skateboarding, etc…]. Everyone remembers Jamie Thomas’s leap of faith (breaking his board each time); if you had any interest in skateboarding at the time then you remember how it turned the industry upside down and on its head. I posted a video of Eero Ettala’s winning X Games run a couple days ago. [As once an avid rider], if you said to me 5 years ago that switch 1260’s, double cork 1080’s and switch double-backs would be a regular part of riding vernacular I would have said BS. But the truth is it is, and in another 5 years these tricks will be old news and new innovators will set a whole new tone once again. And this is a very necessary component of the action sports category. It’s rooted in innovation. It cannot exist without it.

What creates innovation in the above is the high degree’s of consequence [or risk]. Big consequence [risk] leads to big innovations [usually]. Sometimes high degrees of consequence leads to high degrees of lameness [not to knock Jim Rippey’s ‘Rippey Flip’ or Apple for the lame-ish ipad, but unnecessary consequence does happen], generally speaking.

Of course most of us are not professional athletes but the idea of consequence is still applicable. And the notion of risk is even more applicable. Just thinking about myself for example and how often a skirt consequence [just sit there with my head down] and take the safer approach, meanwhile knowing in the back of my mind that the risker approach or action is the better one.

How do you approach life? Are you a Jamie Thomas or something else? Are you working to create a whole new vernacular/tone in your job? Or even better yet, in your life?

If action sports is consequence dependent…how do we make our lives and the things we do more consequence dependent?