#142 To turn right go left

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I was thinking… oh boy, this isn’t good. And then when I noticed the wheels turn away from the slide… I said, welp… here we go!

Thank you for calling GIH where we instigate growth one call at a time where we utilize antiquated technology to deliver 3-minute leadership lessons every week day! This is message #142 and I am Aaron Havens.

Growing up where dirt roads were common, and growing up with snow and ice… I learned quiet well how to drive on dirt and ice. There is an art to driving, and specifically making turns or “banking” or “skidding” through corners.

In to Pixar movie “Cars”, Doc Hudson said “I’ll put it simple: if you’re goin’ hard enough left, you’ll find yourself turnin’ right”. Lightening McQueen sarcastically replied, “Oh, right. Thant makes perfect sense. Turn *right* to go *left*.”

So, as my family and I were driving up the snowy Colorado Monarch Mountain pass I watch a truck coming down the mountain about 100 yards ahead of me starting to slide sideways and come into our lane. I was calm, knowing that if the driver knew what they were doing they could correct the skid and easily steer clear. However, when I noticed the wheels turn the wrong way and I knew we were in for it. No getting out of this collision. I

It’s called counter steering. When your car is sliding into a left turn, the right side of your car is leading. If you turn too far left, you want to turn right to balance it out. If you keep turning left your car is just going to spin.

Where in your life do you need to “counter steer”. Sometime it goes against all logic. It feels un-natural. It takes a good amount of courage to “counter steer”. However, once you master this technique… it’s a lot of fun! I still to this day, when safe, go into an empty ice parking lot and “counter steer” away.

Sometimes what we are doing, where we are steering is actually making the situation worse. If the the driver of the other truck knew how to “counter steer”, we wouldn’t have been in a wreck that day.

Counterintuitive moments are defining. Here are a couple examples: Less is more (avoid dilution). Failure leads to success (good to fail and learn). Give away your best ideas (will attract people to you and want more). And in Judo it is taught one can gain by loosing (choosing to let the opponent win in one area so you can dominate the larger match)

Thanks for calling in today. Tune in tomorrow for a fresh new topic. At the sound of the beep, where do you need or where have you learned to “counter steer” in your life? What is something your stuck in that actually might need a counterintuitive approach? Let me know after the beep.