I often tell people that I learned to mountain bike by doing a bunch of endos. In case you don’t know, an endo is short for “end over end” and describes the experience of flying unexpectedly over the handlebars of your bike. It’s not pretty, and looks something like this:

Part of the reason I did an endo on each of my first twelve rides on my mountain bike is because I had some problems with my technique: I didn’t keep my weight far enough back on my bike when riding down hills, and I didn’t keep my handlebars straight when I went over rocks, and exposed tree roots. The biggest reason that I found myself so often airborne and flying over my bike, though, was because I pushed myself too hard. I was trying to keep up with the guy who was teaching me, and in pushing myself too far beyond my capabilities, I crashed and burned.

I used to believe that growing and accomplishing new things required jumping in head first into the deep end. Shortly after a friend told me that he thought I’d find meditation really beneficial, I signed up for a 10-day silent meditation retreat. I had never meditated before. Not once. And off I headed to a retreat in which I was asked to doing sitting meditation for 10 hours each day, beginning at 4:30 every morning. My friends laughed when I told them I was going to sit still and be silent for 10 days. My friends and colleagues view me as fearless. It’s not that I’m fearless, it’s just that I don’t let my fears stop me from doing something that I set my mind to.

I’m definitely an advocate of finding the edge and challenging yourself to get there. The trick, though, is to find your stretch zone. Your stretch zone is the sweet spot between your comfort zone and your panic zone. It is the place that will push you to grow, but in a way that is achievable

To find your stretch zone, set goals that will push you, but that you believe you can accomplish. They should be goals that make your palms sweat a bit, but don’t send you into a complete panic.

• Set Your Goals: What do you want to accomplish in the next week, month, year? Get really clear about what you want, and make sure your goals are SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely)
• Define New Practices: What practices that will help you achieve your goals? What commitments are you prepared to make on a daily or weekly basis that will keep you moving in the direction of your goals?
• Commit Yourself: Select 1-3 of these practices, and make a commitment to yourself to do them.
• Enlist Support: Tell 2-3 friends or colleagues about your commitment and enlist their support in  achieving them. Ask them to hold you accountable to doing what you have said you are committed to.
• Hold Yourself Accountable: Find some way to hold yourself accountable. A coach or a personal trainer or a friend may be a helpful ally on this front. Whatever you do, just make sure you hold yourself (or someone else holds you) to what you are committed to.
• Begin Now: Don’t wait another day. Begin now! As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe so eloquently put it, “Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it.
  Action has magic, power, and grace in it.”

I haven’t flipped over my handlebars on my mountain bike in many years now. And I have never forgotten the many lessons that learning to ride taught me.