A Counterintuitive Guide to Catching “The Big One”

You want the “big one.” Big success. Big fitness. Big fun. Big life.

Right!

To hell with the base hits. It’s a grandslam world we live in today.

…be that success financial, fitness, fun or freedom, we want it all. We want it now.

So, we seek the endless stories and formulas for success that have us all swinging for the fences at every pitch.

The want to whack a few pounds off and get lean-strong has us drinking buttered coffee, training like you’re joining Cirque du Soleil and eating like you live in a cave.

I saw a story last night the reminded me of what I’ve come to know is true about achievement of all levels. A prime example of the this ironically counterintuitive path to truly “landing the big-one” in life.

My son and I were watching one of our favorite shows on the cable machine, River Monsters. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know why I think it’s host, Jeremy Wade is the coolest guy on any TV today (along with Ray Donovan, of course).

A 60 year old English biologist who is an avid angler. I am talking a real fishing expert and adventurer. Think part Mt. Everest climber, Columbus level explorer who catches exotic giant fish in the most dangerous and remote places on earth.

In this episode, the tough guy, with his sophisticated English accent and weathered look from the years of adventure, was trying to catch a ferocious predator, the muskie.

The largest of the pike family, this aggressive predator is not the easiest to catch nor is it all too common. Thus, as is often the case in his life, Jeremy was met with considerable frustration and challenge.

He’d been out on this lake in Canada for over a week. He’d followed every piece of wisdom from the locals. He’d fished every “best spot” and used every trick in the book. He’d seen muskies following his lure, he’d been taunted by them and knew they were there.

With the sort of double-down on resolve I can relate to, rather than be dissuaded by the challenge, Jeremy becomes more resolute. He was not about to give in and let that fish win.

Yet, the reality is time is limited. Winter was moving in. The lake would be freezing soon. It was now or never.

This is when Mr. Wade did something very important. Very different.

He did a complete reset. He released his focus on the “big one.” He shared, “I had to get the fish out of my mind. I had to let it go and return back to what i know to be true. I had to find myself as an angler again. Remind myself I can catch a fish.”

So, he returned to where he started the hunt. To an area of the lake considered sacred and parked his big fish mounts and returned to his small casting rod and reel with the intent of catching a trout. Of remembering what it felt like to have success again.

Sometimes you just need a taste of success again to prime the flow. You have to remind yourself what it feels like, who you really are.

Think this through. In order to catch the BIG ONE Jeremy let go of the idea and the obsession. He released the outcome. He returned to hallow ground and the very basics of his craft.

The Master Does

He went back to fundamentals and embraced the truth of his craft, simplifying everything. This is what the master does. He does not go further out, seeking ever more complex or intricate solutions. He goes within and falls back to the fundamentals.

In what I am sure you will see as no accident, within minutes of his reset he’d hooked a massive muskie. Only problem is he’d done so on equipment that was in no way sufficient to land the beast. A flimsy rod and reel with six pound test line left him at the mercy of the fishing gods to even hope to land this.

Of course, with great skill and a lot of luck, he did land the enormous beast of a muskie — the big one. His confidence and spirit renewed. He let it go and rested before setting his eyes on the next big-one.

The lesson here is clear of any of us seeking to land the big-one; of body or bank: It often (aka always) requires letting go of the heroic try-ing and stepping back to the basics of doing.

Simplify. Get back to the small things, repeated daily, that have a solid history of producing the result you want. Get back to basics. Back to ritual. Back to discipline and daily practice.

Let go of the outcome focus and celebrate the repeated actions. Do the work until the doing becomes ingrained in your being. Until it is who you are not what you do.

The good news is that time passes far too fast. Thus, the massive results you desire will arrive faster than you can imagine when you do that which seems least likely to deliver you today.

Simply stated: Slowdown to speed up. Do less to get more.

Embrace the most important quality that will make you stand out in a swing for the fences world, a commitment to the fundamentals and the focus and stamina to stay the course, and you will be the celebrated success others will seek to emulate.

Good fishing.

Thank you for reading this.

I would very much appreciate if you will leave a comment and share this.

Best of Life.
Shawn