What Jumping off a Cliff Taught Me About Sticking to the Process
Yes, I actually jumped off a cliff...once...it was a powerfully impactful lesson to learn about sticking to the process!
There’s a phrase I like to say, "You have to start from the small to jump off the tall!" It helps keep me in check when I am taking on new heights. Both literally, like a cliff, as well as those heights in life that seem impossible to get over. Sometimes you are called to take a leap of faith, and stepping off the mountain as your first step seems impossible. Well, when the mountain in front of you looks daunting, start with the smallest thing you need to do to help you tackle it. Then once you’ve been able to jump with confidence from that level, add the next one to the journey. Build in a process to help you achieve the small goal in front of you so that you build towards that BIG goal out ahead of you.
So there I was, swimming toward that cliff in front of me, literally. From the boat it didn’t look quit as big, but now with each stroke it became bigger and I became smaller. I kept reminding myself of the heights I’d jumped off of before. This was just a little higher and had water….that was a first, I had never jumped into water from that height before, but I was feeling confident. I could apply what I knew about the jumps I’d done in the past and apply that to this one and then make adjustments for my landing. Stick to the process!
You see I was a professional stunt woman. It was in my job description to "jump" off of things. I trained extensively at lower jumps before I felt equipped to next level up. It's a system, a process, you grab a hold of it on the inside and it becomes the way you drive yourself to be able to keep going higher. This was no different. It was just a little higher. No problem, stick to what I knew, hold to what I had learned in the process, make an adjustment for the landing. I had this, at least that’s what I told myself.
I'm not sure if it was the hot sun in Jamaica that day, or the fact that there was a boat filled with my "new" friends cheering me on, whatever it was I let the external influences affect my internal system. As I made it to the cliff I kept hearing the cheers from the boat, they were my biggest fans. I felt this tug from inside saying to me, “You’ve never jumped this high into water before” but I ignored it. I became more motivated to do the jump for the people I didn’t even really know who were back in the boat, than I did for myself. The problem with that kind of motivation is it’s for the wrong reasons. Without being driven from the inside, I was open to being influenced by those outside voices. Probably at that point it was a bit of my pride as well. I mean, I’m a stunt woman, the fact that I hadn’t ever done a jump like this into water didn’t matter, right?!
Maybe you’ve been here before. You feel that pressure to next level up. You’ve set goals in the past and had success in achieving them and instead of sticking to the process for success that you’ve done before you throw caution to the wind and just go for it! Here’s the thing. Sometimes throwing caution to the wind is a part of the process, it’s not a random thought, its an intentional throw “it” out there to get past a particular hurdle. That’s the thing though, IT is a part of the process, you know why you are doing it, and it comes from that drive inside yourself.
Sticking to the plan, knowing there is a process takes time. That’s the one thing I felt I didn’t have, time. I had my new fan club waiting to see me hurl myself off this cliff in front of me, I lost my focus and shut off that inner voice inside that said, “Wait! Let’s think this whole thing through. How do you want to hit the water?!” So I shut off a process that worked. One I had established from the inside of myself that involved checking in and assessing the situation in front of me. Instead I decided to rely on the ‘ole ‘I’ve got this’ mentality and began the climb up the cliff.
Cresting the top I could feel the power of the wind, it was helpful in slightly drowning out the voices from the boat, but not loud enough to tune them out entirely. All it would have taken for me to do this jump successfully would have been to stop and talk it out, before I actually took that jump. Simple. That’s not what I did. I half-heartedly listened to my ex say make sure to hit the water with my feet first, straight in! As I stepped up to the edge I felt the power of the wind now. Looking down it was a breath-taking view. Not only because the ocean was so beautiful, but also because I had no idea that the water from that height would look so shallow! It made me hold my breath! They had told me it was twenty feet to the bottom, from up there it looked like two! I remember that voice inside saying, “step back. Let’s take a moment to walk this jump the whole way through.” There I was, with a BIG choice to make. And I shut off that voice on the inside and tuned into all of the cheers I could again hear so clearly on the outside. “Kristin, Kristin” I couldn’t disappoint my new friends. Soooo, I told myself, “Just do it!” And I did.
The funny thing about sticking to the process, it makes the plan go so much smoother!
As I stepped off the cliff my heart was racing. I vividly remember thinking, “What if I hit the bottom of the ocean?!” Not good thoughts as you are already in mid jump. The first few moments were like I knew. Head up, eyes open, and spot my target. The problem became as I got closer to hitting my target, the water, I panicked, and shut my eyes. Here’s the thing with a process that works, you have to actually stick to it, in order to execute the jump you’re taking. Closing your eyes has never been, nor will ever be, one of the steps to take such a big jump!
Just like in life. If we veer off from what we have laid out as the plan, and the process to achieve BIG goals and be able to jump from new heights in our lives, the last thing we should do is close our eyes! If we’ve changed something in the process to execute said plan, we must be able to see the new direction we are now going in.
That day, by me closing my eyes, even for such a quick moment, I missed seeing when my entrance into the water would be, and I pulled up my legs ever so slightly…..
I’ll never do that again! If you have ever experienced hitting the water from 48 feet above it with your legs slightly bent before, then you are feeling my pain right now. In fact, as I write this, I can still feel that pain. The force of the hit was supposed to be on my feet. They would punch the water and be my point of entrance. Our feet are a small surface of skin. Keeping them together toes pointed and allowing them to punch the water first, is the way to avoid a lot of pain. They call this a pencil dive. It limits the point of contact as you enter the water. Smart. It should have been part of my process. It wasn’t. The surface of the water instead hit a larger surface of my body, the backs of my thighs up to my bum! OWWWWWAHH!!!!
If I’d only taken a moment that day and walked out the steps before I took the jump. I would have factored into my process the need to hit the water like a pencil, along with the why that was so important! I can tell you I would still jump off a cliff, but not without ensuring that I had my process in place, and was centered from the inside out.
Life is so much like my cliff jumping experience. We will always have that bigger challenge out in front of us that we want to conquer. The way to be able to take that BIG jump is to look at what’s in front of you and start there. Over time you will develop a process to achieve goals based on your experience in the process of achieving them.
That’s what I bring into my every day. My years of understanding the process to take that next step, that BIG jump. It always starts with the small before you jump from the tall.
If you are ready to level up. Take a leap of faith, and let me walk you through a process that will give you a solid foundation to draw from, I am ready to show you how to take your first step.
