To paraphrase a crusty ol' vaudeville joke, I just flew in from Vail, and boy, are my legs tired!
Yup, eight days boarding down the hills and bowls of the mighty Colordo resort can leave one quite exhausted, not to mention a lil' sore...which at least gives me an excuse for missing last week's post (What I Learned Last Week: Sometimes, You're Just Too Tired to Learn Anything).
Faithful readers of this blog know that I've spent five out of the last six winter vacations in Vail, and if you check out the iPhone pic below, you may understand why:
That's the view, just above my snowboard and just below heaven, about 50 feet down the Showboat run in the Game Creek Bowl, one of Vail's seven such ravines...and one of its 764 or so majestic views.
It's also the cause of some of my greatest wipeouts on the hill, because sometimes I am just so staggered by the breathtaking expanse ahead of me, I lose track of what I'm doing and catch an edge, a tree or another human being (sorry folks!).
Which brings us to my lesson-of-the-week:
YOU NEVER TIRE OF THE SPECTACULAR
I did over 100 runs on my eight boarding days, and I was continually in awe of my surroundings. The fact that I keep going back year-after-year shows that the attraction doesn't wane.
And it ain't just views or snow resorts. There are albums, films, TV shows, stores, artists, fashion designers, restaurants and speeches (special shout out today to MLK's "I Have a Dream") that I visit again and again and again. They are Supernovas of Spectacularity.
Trust me, I understand the diminshing returns on just about consumer good and experience and the ensuing need for a continual kinking of the demand curve (dammit, I wrote the book on the subject!). But when you've brought yourself, your product, your company to the heights of Spectacularism, you've got a free ride.
For a little while at least.
Yes, sometimes what's Spectacular today becomes mundane tomorrow. I get that. And I know that the greats keep changing things up to maintain their upper-upper-upper level of eye-popping, jaw-dropping status.
Problem is, most of us never even get close to "Spectacular." We stop at "Good Enough." Or maybe at "Great." Some of us don't even try.
I'm no great fan of New Year's Resolutions...especially since the new year is now in its third week.
But in 2011, I'm shooting for Spec-tac-u-lar in all its four-syllable glory.
I want people to see me, and what I do, the way I see the view above.