There is a psychological “a-ha” (I call it a “Eureka” moment) that every successful entrepreneur just “gets” at some point in their career. Usually just before they absolutely master the science of achievement.

Thing is, it isn’t easy to “get”… it fact, it is one of the most painful lessons you’ll ever learn.

The secret lies in knowing this, expecting the hurt… and then going for it anyway. Really, the lesson is all about embracing pain.

Let me explain…

I’m in the zone. Hurtling at high speed straight down a super steep ridge… slicing and dicing snow into a huge cloud of powder behind me. Clearly, I am the the coolest thing skier on the whole mountain today.

Just when I’m feeling the most confident, everything changes.

Before I can blink, I’m airbourne and the crashing down the hill. In a motion described by experts as “tomahawking” (picture a spinning ax), I flip head over heals and finally come to a not-so-graceful halt with my head buried in the snow.

My entire body is aching like I just finished a bar fight with a 300kg gorilla. I try to get my breath back and simultaneously realise I’ve got snow all through my mouth, nose and trousers.

Worst of all, I have absolutely no idea how this even happened!

When you’re speeding along in business, sometimes you’ll fall flat on your face. It’ll happen so fast that it’s hard to pinpoint the cause.

Ultimate learning:

1. You now know where your learning curve is…

2. You now have the feedback you need to know when to start paying extra attention

See, as soon as I fell down the mountain, I limped back to the hut for a warm drink and a moment’s thought.

I realised that I hadn’t been focused – my attention was on performance (going faster and faster) and I wasn’t paying attention to the conditions underfoot.

This lack of focus in the right places caused me to catch a ski in a patch of soft powder. End result = me flying!

The ironic thing? Powder is supposed to be “ideal” for skiiers, but because I wasn’t paying attention, a pocket of this perfect snow totally ruined me.

The ultimate, ULTIMATE learning:

Without falling over, we cannot learn. The more spectacular the fall, the more neccessary and urgent it is to make the learning.

All really good skiers who know how to go fast, are always (as I learned) keeping an eye out for variable snow conditions.

This is something beginners don’t need to know about. When you’re slowly cruising down a slope, sudden ice or powder (or change fullstop) is easy to deal with.

… You make a few changes to your technique and keep on cruising!

It’s only when you’re on the fast-track that you need to watch out and utilise lighting-fast reflexes to adjust to the conditions.

Learning this is something I would never had the opportunity to do, had I not skiied (stupidly) fast in the first place.

When I go really fast, I realise that the chances of a fall increase dramatically. Still, I consistently ski to my absolute edge because that is the only way to rapidly increase skill.

I know to expect pain.

The big secret: If you’re not looking forward to the pain of falling over, you’re wasting your time and the pay off probably isn’t worth it either.

Anyone who finds skiing boring isn’t going fast enough. Anyone who finds skiing hard isn’t falling over enough.

Make your life, hobbies and business easy – Discover your absolute edge and push yourself beyond it. When you pick yourself up again and keep at it, you’ll soon realise that your personal “edge” is getting bigger and bigger….

There is one technique that stands out from all the rest. The world’s most successful entrepreneurs and business people often share this strategy in common.

It isn’t an NLP technique or some other kind of tool (in fact, it’s hardly psychological). Read on to find out…

A vertical drop of hundreds of feet, rocks and razor sharp ice below, no parachute or safety gear of any kind besides my trusty helmet.

A little voice at the back of my mind screamed at the absurdity of what I was about to do.

I leapt.

The guaranteed method for enriching your life, in financial terms and in pure enjoyment, is simple:

Get passionate about a hobbie

Here’s why:

When the business elite unwind with their favourite pastime, they’re not destroying braincells in the same way you and I might, when we crack a beer and watch TV.

Hobbies enrich the mind – when you become really passionate and involved in a hobby, it becomes a parable of your own life.

As you learn to be successful in your hobbie, in turn, you’re learning to be successful in life and business.

The CEO who plays Chess is really practicing to stay 3 moves ahead of the competition

The sales star who plays football is conditioning herself to score goals

The entrepreneur who builds model air-planes is constructing the way and means to soar

My hobby is skiing

I’m ridiculously passionate about it. For me, a day carving turns in fresh powder is the best thing in the world.

When I leapt off a near vertical, double black diamond run (read: as difficult as it gets) at Treble Cone ski resort (Wanaka, NZ) I learned an extraordinary business lesson.

You see, in skiing, there is a big difference between “average” skiers (blue runs – medium difficulty) and the elite who throw themselves down the black (and double black) death-slopes.

In business, we’d say there’s a big difference between the half-hearted, “dabbling” entrepreneurs who occasionally make a bit of cash and the ultra-successful tycoons with a midas-touch.

The elite skiers seldom get there by skill. In fact, skill has very little to do with it. Experience also isn’t important.

Being good enough to ski insanely steep slopes comes down to one simple strategy:

Having the guts to throw yourself down that insane slope, despite your lack of skill and experience.

When you shoot off down a black diamond run, your heart is in your mouth… adrenaline is pumping… and you know you’re about to die.

You do the absolute best you can not to fall over (and tumble down the mountain).

You focus on getting to the end, not on having fun.

Then something incredible happens

You finish the run. You look back on how far you’ve come. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so steep. Your adrenaline is wearing off and your brain is flooded with endorphins.

You say to yourself: “That was $%#@ing AMAZING…. I wanna do it AGAIN!”

Having the guts to do something incredibly dangerous and difficult actually forces you to develop the skills and experience you need to succeed.

Every one’s first black-run is the same… it’s all about “just surviving” – just making it out to safety.

The second, third and twentieth runs become about being graceful, fast and precise… then you start looking for jumps and other opportunities.

You connect up the dots – I’ll get back to skiing.