9 Life Lessons

Extracts from the original text are in italics and my take is below that. You may agree or disagree with my thoughts but that’s okay, in accordance with Lesson 5, I can live with that.

https://youtu.be/yoEezZD71sc?si=wcRbea2krkzHxreD

1. You don’t have to dream

“Americans on talent shows always talk about their dreams. Fine, if you have something that you’ve always dreamed of, like, in your heart, go for it! After all, it’s something to do with your time… chasing a dream. And if it’s a big enough one, it’ll take you most of your life to achieve, so by the time you get to it and are staring into the abyss of the meaninglessness of your achievement, you’ll be almost dead so it won’t matter.

I never really had one of these big dreams. And so I advocate passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals. Be micro-ambitious. Put your head down and work with pride on whatever is in front of you… you never know where you might end up.”

Perhaps I am lucky having the attention span of a goldfish, I have never pursued a dream, I mostly stumble over glittery things that catch my attention for a while and totally absorb me, right until I see the next shiny thing.

What I have found with fly casting is that sometimes the accumulation of all of these pieces suddenly leads to a breakthrough, either in casting or instructing. Many of these aha moments have come from debates on the board or continuations of discussions off line. As an instructor, these nuggets have lead to step changes in my lesson delivery. I also think that most of the people that engage in these discussions take pride in their teaching, seeking continual improvement in their work.

2. Don’t seek happiness

“Happiness is like an orgasm, if you think about it too much it’ll go away. Keep busy and aim to make someone else happy, and you might find you get some as a side effect. We didn’t evolve to be constantly content.”

I think that fishing, instruction and guiding generates its own happiness but it’s not always a bed of roses. I lose fish, hit dead ends in lessons and we all blank, even the top guns.

That said, it generates a significant high when the fish sticks, the student’s casting is transformed and they nail their first fish but I have never thought to ask “how was that for you?”.

3. Remember, it’s all Luck.

“Understanding that you can’t truly take credit for your successes, nor truly blame others for their failures will humble you and make you more compassionate.

Empathy is intuitive, but is also something you can work on, intellectually.”

If you instruct and are unaware of self serving bias, you should be. It will provide a significant insight into how both yourself and your students frame success and failure.

Personally, I view my lessons and subsequent drills as being handrails to guide the students to their objectives. I can only facilitate learning not cause it to happen; therefore, the students own the success but I may have to bear responsibility for failures.

Remembering your own struggles to learn the skills you now have should make you realise that they were hard won. Speaking to Chris Hague at the Game Fair recently, he told me that the process of preparing for his CI with his non dominant hand provided an insight into the battle that learners faced and made him a better instructor. This was a valuable exercise in Shoshin that we would all do well to remember and perhaps emulate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshin

4. Exercise.

“Play a sport, do yoga, pump iron, run… whatever… but take care of your body. You’re going to need it. Most of us are going to live to be nearly a hundred and even the poorest of us will achieve a level of wealth that most humans throughout history could not have dreamed of.”

Being a gentleman of a certain age that kicked the arse out of my youth, this is ringing true with me. Believing myself to be indestructible, I accepted most physical challenges without any thought for the consequences and am starting to pay the price. What I see on the banks is that physical condition takes people away from fishing as they age. Not just the ability to cast, it is the mobility to get around our particular fishing environments. One of my sons is an intern sports therapist with a professional football team, promotes professionally supervised stretching and I’m seeing the benefits but wish I’d started sooner.

5. Be Hard on Your Opinions.

“A famous bon mot asserts that opinions are like arse-holes, in that everyone has one but I would add that opinions differ significantly from arse-holes, in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined.

We must think critically, and not just about the ideas of others. Be hard on your beliefs. Take them out onto the verandah and beat them with a cricket bat. Be intellectually rigorous. Identify your biases, your prejudices, your privilege.

Most of society’s arguments are kept alive by a failure to acknowledge nuance. We tend to generate false dichotomies, then try to argue one point using two entirely different sets of assumptions, like two tennis players trying to win a match by hitting beautifully executed shots from either end of separate tennis courts.”

The linkage between arseholes and opinions has been around for a long time and is particularly applicable to fly casting and fishing. Just spend an hour on forums and social media if you doubt me.

There you will find lots of individuals that believe that the way they fish or cast is the only worthwhile or true form of the art. They appear in casting technique discussions asking where are the fish, or telling the demonstrator that they would never catch a bonefish/trout/haddock using that technique. Although engagement with these individuals is usually futile, it’s not uncommon to find that they only fish in a limited way and always in the same environment, so in their eyes they are correct and they are. What is bollox is taking that single answer and applying it to all forms of the sport.

Fishing takes place in a highly variable environment using a wide variety of equipment, resulting in a multitude of potential casts that may achieve the desired objective and there may be multiple casting solutions to that single objective. Moreover, there are continual crossed wires about the differences in approach to learning a skill and improving performance. In my opinion, the inability of some posters to distinguish between the two is a source of constant friction.

I digress. If you are tempted to have a rant on the internet about casting, it may be worth trying what has been suggested in the applicable environment instead of just dismissing the suggestion as you may learn something new. However, if you are engaging in these discussions without any intention of learning, stop wasting everyone’s time by posting.

That’s my opinion anyway and I don’t care if you think that I’m an arsehole!

6. Be a teacher.

“Please be a teacher. Teachers are the most admirable and important people in the world. Share your ideas. Don’t take for granted your education. Rejoice in what you learn, and spray it.”

I think that we are blessed in the fly casting world in that there are a lot of instructors in the online community that share information freely, I don’t think that is the same in all sports and certainly not in many professional circles, where knowledge is power and can be withheld for personal advancement.

My experience of the instructosphere is mostly positive, everyone is welcoming and they are genuinely nice people. Yes there are clashes online but I think that the majority of them would not have happened in real life, the internet masks the interpersonal cues that we use in daily life and we misinterpretations are common. Another issue is that casting instruction is a bit of a curates egg and you have to work quite hard to get to what is important. I was going to write a bit more on this but Kalyn has beaten me to the punch and I don’t want to paddle in his water.

https://www.sexyloops.co.uk/theboard/viewtopic.php?t=4467

The casting world is made up of great performers, skilled and opinionated anglers and a lot of qualified instructors. If you want to write about teaching online, go out and teach in the real world, it’s the only way that you’ll find out if what you say makes sense. Many lesson plans don’t survive first contact with the student.

7. Define yourself by what you love.

I’ve found myself doing this thing a bit recently, where, if someone asks me what sort of music I like, I say “well I don’t listen to the radio because pop lyrics annoy me”. Or if someone asks me what food I like, I say “I think truffle oil is overused and slightly obnoxious”. And I see it all the time online, people whose idea of being part of a subculture is to hate Coldplay or football or feminists or the Liberal Party. We have tendency to define ourselves in opposition to stuff; as a comedian, I make a living out of it. But try to also express your passion for things you love. Be demonstrative and generous in your praise of those you admire. Send thank-you cards and give standing ovations. Be pro-stuff, not just anti-stuff.”

There’s a lot to be said for social media, it has brought a lot of positive benefits to our community. People with common interests have been able to exchange ideas on forums such as Sexyloops and there have been some mighty leap forwards but you don’t have to look far to see people who don’t know each other, have never met and are unlikely to do so, shouting at each other online. Even in our world, there have been some fearsome debates where communication has totally broken down.

I’m fully aware that I have been involved in some of these bun fights which can be mentally and emotionally exhausting. Additionally, there are aspects of our sport that don’t appeal to everyone but provided that the method is legal, your own lack of interest doesn’t make it wrong.

The new me will publicly like things that I may not totally agree with and if it’s someone I know well, I’ll discuss it out of the full glare of the internet. If it’s someone I don’t know well then I may respond and try to gauge the reaction but for the most part I plan to join the lurkers. If I get the sense that I’m talking to a brick wall, I’ll now leave it be and retain my sense of zen like calm. Nevertheless, I do retain the right to try and press Paul’s buttons wherever possible!

The bottom line is that we indulge in a marvellous pastime and should publicise the tremendous life benefits that we enjoy and endeavour to show the positives to non anglers looking in.

8. Respect People With Less Power Than You.

“I have, in the past, made important decisions about people I work with — agents and producers — based largely on how they treat wait staff in restaurants. I don’t care if you’re the most powerful cat in the room, I will judge you on how you treat the least powerful. So there.”

Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence in our world and I would say that in the instructosphere that I have encountered has been mostly open and highly interactive, regardless of qualifications.

In an instructional sense, you hold the power and can demonstrably perform the skills your student is seeking to acquire. As an instructor, you are not only there to demonstrate your performance prowess but also to transfer your skills. If the skills transfer breaks down it is disrespectful to blame the student, you are the paid professional in this relationship.

9. Don’t Rush.

“You will soon be dead. Life will sometimes seem long and tough and, god, it’s tiring. And you will sometimes be happy and sometimes sad. And then you’ll be old. And then you’ll be dead. There is only one sensible thing to do with this empty existence, and that is: fill it. Not fillet. Fill. It.”

Prior to fishing I had a job that I loved for a long time but it became a chore and then I began to hate going to work, so I retired before I started becoming bitter and twisted.

Away from fishing, I have taken up saxophone, bake bread, fish, teach and have a great wife and family that indulge my interests. The world is a fascinating place and I could easily fill 3 lifetimes with all I want to accomplish. Indeed, I have filled my life so much that I no longer have times to write FP’s and will join the lurkers who contribute little but like to criticise those who freely share their knowledge.

So a big thank you to Paul for putting up with my intermittent output and I hope to see some of you on the river bank, socials or in the bar before the grim reaper comes calling.

Goodbye and I hope you catch some fish!