As I write this, I’m sitting on a friend’s boat near San Francisco. It’s a cool, grey, slightly misty day. I’m up top, bundled up in a blanket with a hot cup of coffee and a laptop. A perfect spot for writing.

Every now and then, I see some rowers going past. I rowed in college, and noticed that the last rowers who went past were rowing slowly, focused on technique. 

In rowing, it’s not all about strength and endurance. It’s just as much – if not more – about technique. The idea is to slow yourself down as little as possible, letting all the power you put into the stroke translate into maximum forward motion. Poor technique is like putting the brakes on. For example, rushing the slide on the way back up from your stroke is essentially throwing your weight in the opposite direction you want to go. It kills the momentum. 

So the better your technique, the less you get in the way of translating power into speed. 

How important is technique in rowing? Incredibly. I’ve seen teams with big, powerful gorilla rowers get buried by smaller, less powerful teams with excellent technique. You can have all the power in the world in your stroke, but if you keep putting the brakes on, you’re wasting most of it. 

It occurred to me that there’s a lesson there that applies to our careers, and our lives in general. How often do we put all kinds of effort into making something happen, only to put the brakes on and slow ourselves down, or even grind to a halt? I know for me it happens waaaay more often than I’d like. 

We do it in a bazillion different ways. For me, a lack of organization is a big one. I dive into ideas that inspire me, but my technique holds me back. The disorganization prevents me from translating all the effort into productive forward motion. It wastes my energy and kills my momentum. 

Some other ways people kill their momentum include a lack of clear focus, a lack of planning, focusing on too many things at once, procrastination, not saying no enough to other people’s requests so we have time for our own efforts, rushing the process, etc. 

Take a look at your own life. How is your technique? Is there anything that is slowing you down? Is there anything that is preventing your efforts from translating into maximum forward motion? What can you do to start fine-tuning your technique? You don’t have to be perfect. Just keep refining it. 

Remember, getting the most from your stroke isn’t just about putting a lot of power and effort into it, it’s also about not getting in your own way. When you do that, you achieve more with less effort. 

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by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst