10 things a motorcycle can teach you about life

Three months ago I decided not to waste my life in traffic jams so I bought a motorcycle. It changed my life.

How can riding a motorcycle teach you things about life? It’s not only going from point A to point B?

Four months ago I wouldn’t imagine to write a post about this subject but here I am. Here I am richer than yesterday because I’m having this great experience who remind me of a few things that I already knew and taught me a new ones.

So, what does a motorcycle can teach you about life?

1. We can always learn new things — when you ride a motorcycle (mc from now on) you are always learning. For instance: how to brake better, how to curve better, how to avoid other cars, how to avoid faulty roads, how to survive to bad weather, etc. Each ride I’m learning a new technique.
2. There’s always another point of view — can you imagine a road that you did thousands of times in your life and now it looks different, it smells different? By riding a mc you can have a new point of view of the same road, observe new things and the same things with another point of view.
3. Focus is [really] an important thing — you need to empty your head when you ride a mc. You can’t use your hands on your smartphone. you can’t forget that you are not alone on the road. Half a second distracted and that can translate in you tasting the asphalt. But if you are focused you can have the ride of your life: view new things, smell different trees and flowers, listen to new sounds on the ecosystem.
4. Having a team is one of the best things in life — riding with a group of friends means team work. You actually plan the trip, help each other while on the road and enjoy even more the destination you are going. A team trying to survive and enjoying the ride. to You feel that you are part of something different. Something that only you and your team really understand. It bounds you together.
5. Trust is everything — riding with someone in your mc? He/she need to trust you and vice-versa. Why? If you are not fully connected you can actually die. The direction one goes so does the other. Both need to be focused during the ride helping each other to achieve the same goal. It’s not only possible but it makes the ride, sometimes, even better.
6. You need to take risks — After driving cars for 18 years and listening to “riding a motorcycle is a dangerous thing that you should avoid” and now seeing so many benefits drives me to a conclusion: everything has pros and cons. Managing the “cons” to leverage on the “pros” can be a game changer in many aspects of your life. Don’t do what others tell you: experiment new things for yourself and decide.
7. It’s not only about the destiny, it’s mostly about the ride — Trust me: I love cars! I will always love cars! But from Monday to Friday, driving any car (I had bad and really good cars) is going from point A to point B, nothing else. Doing the same with a motorcycle is different: it’s a game. And we enjoy games. It’s funny, it’s a challenge, it’s always a new experience. Life should not only be about reaching goals it should mostly be about the ride to reach those goals.
8. There’s always a motherf*cker in the way — you can be really good riding your motorcycle, knowing all the techniques, doing a defensive style, have a top motorcycle, a good helmet, fancy closes, etc, but there always will be a stupid guy/gal who will put you in risk. Drivers that want to hurt you, drivers using the smartphone, bad drivers, etc, you just can’t avoid the fact others exist and sometimes, no matter how good you are, you will always be in danger because of this fauna. Never doubt of your self and keep going! MFs are part of ones life!
9. Expensive doesn’t mean it’s good — I have two motorcycles and one is more expensive than the other. Does the expensive one makes me feel better? No. It makes me feel different. I can enjoy the ride with both. I can have great emotions with both. What changes? Depending on the goal, the less expensive can be a better option. In life, for me, the most important thing is to have options. Is to have the liberty to choose!
10. Practice makes perfect — we all know that right? After riding a motorcycle I can perfectly understand that in some occasions it can be the difference between death and life. So if you want to be really good on something just go and practice everyday the same thing until you are number 1!

Why “It changed my life” in one sentence: I have more 50 minutes per day (7 days per year on a 220 workdays calendar), with that time I can go to the gym and I start enjoying the daily commute.

Go and try it for yourself.

Me and my Yamaha XSR700 in a place called Marvão (Alentejo, Portugal)