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I’ve been skiing for a long time… it’s been decades. And over the years I’ve gotten pretty good – I ski the entire mountain, including the black diamond runs, the moguls, the trees. So why did I finally take my first ski lesson just a few days ago?

The funny thing is that the answer is closely tied to how I’ve been able to build my business…

Scroll down, leave a comment and tell me what you think.


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The expert is always a student first. (Click to tweet.)

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92 Replies to “How to Get Better Fast”

  1. I loved this video Jeff!
    I am, right this very minute, circling back through the PLF content within the portal, getting ready to get started (no content, website, list, product, social media following, etc). I am thinking deeply about how to convey my message and what to write about, positioning, etc. ‘Expert’ has been the topic for me over the past two days, both from the teacher’s and the student’s perspectives.
    Your message here was timely. I believe that ‘you never get it done’. There is always more to learn! Enjoy skiing!
    All the best and with deep appreciation for all that you do…Adama xXx

    • Very true! Learn from the best. Great idea.

      On another note, your videos are always so clear! Looks like you are just using your phone. Do you have to edit after the fact?

      Thanks Jeff!

    • Timely for me personally — and one of the most helpful videos you’ve done!! Congrats and thanks for passing on what you are learning and thinking about.

  2. Michael Morreale

    Reply

    Good Stuff…I absolutely agreed with learning from experts. It’s like my guitar playing, I’ve been playing / dabbling for years and I just started taking lessons last year; now, I need to get practicing that’s my biggest hurtle

  3. Wow. This is a great lesson. Thank you for taking the time to share this!

  4. Thank you Jeff, that was a great lesson today. Now to finding the right resources with the resources that I have to expend. I am grateful to have seen this, so thank you again.

  5. Coaches help you get there faster. No athlete ever made it to the sports hall of fame without a coach. I want to be in the hall of fame, for something. I always have a coach/mentor. Great suggestion Jeff!

  6. Michael Maloney

    Reply

    Great advice, Jeff!! So simple in principle, yet most often challenging to take action on. Cooking is a great example of where I could take a class and enjoy the learning immediately. Thanks for the inspiration, and have fun with your ski lessons!! Cheers!

  7. I’ve found the one step forward two steps back approach to learning is counter intuitive, because we are really taking a giant step toward our goal and only a coup!e of tiny steps back away from a task we thought we had mastered. Habit die hard this is both a curse and blessing.

  8. Kornel Varga

    Reply

    Hi Jeff! I fully agree, I had the same experience many times (also with ski and kayak :). End this is a BIG lesson, you cannot overestimate its importance. That’s why I am doing besides PLF other courses as well – which is a big challenge. But I have to eliminate many misimaginations in marketing, first, as I’ve never done it before. And then – hopefully – I’ll do it right.
    Good skiing!

    • Mariana Ferrari

      Reply

      Kornel keep it up! The more you do the better you get, just like skiing!

  9. This is gold. I knew it . Most people know it but we need a reminder. Thank you

  10. bruce barton

    Reply

    Jeff I like what you said in the video about habit and starting over with good habits and a teacher that know what you want to do.

  11. Hey brother – you always have such great things to share – thanks! And LOVE seeing you out in good old Colorado. I’ve never had much money to buy your programs – but even so have learned a lot from what you give. Awesome!

  12. Thanks for the reminder that when we learn from experts, we sometimes take a step back before a “quantum leap forward.”

  13. You are an inspiration !
    I’m so glad you came onto my path.
    Can’ t wait to learn from you, the expert 😉

  14. Rick Mullen

    Reply

    An “over-inflated view of your own capabilities” can be conter-productive and even dangerous. Arriving at the point where you are comfortable asking for help and admitting what you do not know is liberating. Like Jeff said…sometimes it comes later in life. Great message!

  15. Marv Overman

    Reply

    Jeff, Great reminder for me not to spend too much time trying to figure out techniques on my own. Research to find an expert to learn from. Becoming Good to Great!

  16. Hi Jeff. Love to this video. Makes me want to be in Colorado! This is such greag stuff about growing. Reminds me of The Beginner’s mind- that sometimes when we learn new things or a better way of doing something we’ve done before it’s almost like we can’t feel the ground underneath us for a while. But then the reward- this feeling of flying compared to walking before… and knowing mastery! Thanks for inspiring The Beginner’s mind and Mastery Jeff!

  17. Adriana Bandeira

    Reply

    Thank you, Jeff! His words are inspiring. We should never stop learning. Every day is born rich in opportunities and there are always people who have been on the road for longer than we have. We can learn from them.

  18. Thank you implicitly for that reminder Jeff. Similar situation only mine was horses. I grew up on a horse ranch and was on a horse literally before I could walk and rode every day despite weather. I started training colts at 12. As a youth I was winning all thes trophies and ribbons. Of course by the time your 20 “you know everything” Maybe I did but only that style, and it was ranch-horse. I knew nothing of the science to reining, cutting, reined cow, trail or western-pleasure… I won’t even talk about the English riding side. So when I turned 30, I went to go get my National certification and trainer licence to be recognized a professional. I was told it was mandatory to go through the Equestrian federation classes to prove “competency” long story short I was never more humiliated by the instructor and yes same thing as you stated, I had “A Lot of Bad Habits.” However I had a choice let my pride / ego get in the way or have the proof I was a safe Nationally Certified trainer. Luckily I had the type of personality that would die to prove you wrong if you said to me, “you won’t make it or you can’t.”
    That lesson transferred to almost everything in life. We may have natural talents but you are right, we do have to step back to quantum leap. I think what makes it hard is our passion attachment. We do most things with our hearts and when we are criticised it crushes us. Constructive criticsm can even detrimentally destroy the student who could have been an Olympian because it was the one thing they loved. They spend the next decade miserable believing we are worthless, and another decade in therapy reversing the memory. That would also means we need better coaches with stronger communication skills and become better coaches to nurture the fledgling, not rip its juvenile feathers before it could fly. Thanks again I love the stories… helps me connect to being better. Have an excellente’ day

  19. Great information Jeff. Bad habits can become quickly ingrained and we don’t even notice them anymore. Indeed, sometimes we have to take two steps backward in order to make good progress forward and an expert can make that happen quickly.

  20. Great, simple, practical advice Jeff. We tend to miss the most obvious things that are right in front of us. It makes perfect sense to learn from people that have mastered what we want to learn.

  21. Great video, Jeff. Thank you so much for sharing your launch formula with all of us as well as regular inspiring and informative videos. As a teacher myself, I really resonated with your description of your process of relearning the roll. Very well articulated. Many thanks!

    Jeff Rolka

    P.S. Today is my ‘open cart’ day on my first launch! Thank you so much for your process!

  22. Danelle Denney

    Reply

    Jeff! I have been a PLF Owner since Sept 2015. I have devoured, digested, pondered, plotted, strategized, agonized, collaborated, created relentlessly. I continue to be amazed at how much you give to me. You letting me into PLF 2017 because of my Sept ’15 purchase of PLF 2016 has just lit a fire for me! See you in Arizona!

  23. Stephanie L. Jones

    Reply

    Great video! This was a great lesson on humility too! No matter how long we’ve been doing something and how much we’ve accomplished, we must humble ourselves and realize that we are always someone else’s student!

  24. Catherine Faure

    Reply

    Wow,
    Great lesson, Jeff. Here’s what I liked– what you speak about can be transferred to learning in business or even to anything we do in life. Thank you, and happy new year.

  25. Simple, solid, valuable advice. (Y
    ou’re right Stephanie – it also requires humility!)

  26. Great advice!
    And, wish I lived so close as you are to great mountains 🙂

  27. Excellent! Knowing that you need to learn and then taking action to actually learn (and unlearn) have helped me too. Thanks so much for the reminder!

  28. Amazing video and I loved your stories.
    As a bad skier and a regular sea kayaker myself I felt identified and will be scheduling lessons next time.
    I’m a self made auto didact restless worker starting up as a Global IT Recruiter and another global social business project on the work for some years, always looking to learn and would love to have mentors like you

  29. Hi Jeff, I just adore all your videos thank you! & one day soon I will be able to purchase all the programs I desire from the experts I am called to work with & fine tune whatever needs improvement..I’m all about growth. However now since my mastercard is not available i am focusing on the teachings/healings/growth guided by my soul & source. I guess this is the blessing of this time. Much love, gratitude & blessings to you and yours, Milena xo

  30. I am always encouraged by the things you have to say. I may move ahead by inches, but I am moving ahead. Thanks.

  31. “Great Reinforcement!” It is so very true that sometimes we do need to take a step or steps back and look at the “Why’s, What’s and How’s” of our previous actions and performances of moving forward! Creating the “Habit” really does help to move ahead!
    I ask myself these three words all the time which helps me to evolve all the time forward!

  32. Thanks so much, Jeff. Always learn valuable, usable ideas from you. This sort of reminded me of the quote from the late great John Wooden – “There is nothing you know that you haven’t learned from someone else.”
    Think this even applies to what we think we have “self-taught”.

    • @fawn__o’connor: Loved your quote from John Wooden, one of the greatest college basketball coaches ever!

  33. While I have a lot of crutches stored in my entrepreneur closet I look at them as my notches of progress. Along the way I did buy courses, some from up and comers, some from the best and a lot of self determination and doggedness. On looking back my observation is that I began by buying complex courses that I was not ready for and did not have the financial ability to upgrade to personal coaching. So I ploughed through, and when i got some more $$$, I bought another course, usually one that was focused on an area I got stuck at. So yes, lots of crutches in the closet.

    Recently I decided going full circle … starting where I first began and building a new business. Bought a course. I see things much more clearly now. Building my business and applying “new revelations” (ha! I just did not see them before, the principals were always there) to not only my new business but to my existing one where it makes sense.

    Your message in this video shone a light on the process. Thank you.

  34. Love this!!! I’m a serial learner. Someone who is grateful beyond measure for the giants on whose shoulders I stand.

    Jeff, your videos are a massive dose of encouragement. Thank you.

  35. Thanks, Jeff! Your videos are always so helpful and inspiring — and often beautiful to look at, too! Enjoy the fresh powder!

  36. This is sooo true. I like to see myself struggling and learning from doing and as time goes by, I look for mentors, people that can move me faster.

    Sometimes I signup to a training, knowing all the content, but I want a permission to talk closely to someone I want to have as a mentor. 🙂

    I believe that’s why I have changed my own training business to be like 70% mentoring sessions, 30% open training classes

    — Daniel Wildt

  37. Jeff, you are such a good, sincere example of God’s creation. Thanks for the lesson.

  38. I totally agree! Thank you for sharing your insights and knowledge. I’m on your email list and watch your videos when I receive an alert. As a gallery owner I’ve been approached by a lot of aspiring artists over the years who want to know how to progress. My best advice? Find an artist or artists that creates work that you really like; their techniques, styles, etc. Find out if they offer weekend or week long workshops and sign up! There is everything to be gained by learning from someone who has the skills you want to acquire, a method you understand, who is willing to share their knowledge, plans, guidelines. Applies to anything you want to learn or advance in. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and expertise! I’ve gone thru a challenging re-structure of my 2 businesses (no employees/sole proprietor) and even your Free on line courses are full of valuable guidance and info. Has helped me a lot moving forward.

  39. Charlie White

    Reply

    Jeff, really enjoyed your video. You really drove home some very valuable points. Thanks for sharing.

  40. Great reminder and perspective as I venture into an area new to me. Thanks!

  41. lovely video Jeff! I truly believed that everything can be learned. We just need to master one thing at a time and be a master of that thing.
    By the way, what a nice skiing area. hope to ski with you there. Stay safe!

  42. Alan Jansson

    Reply

    Love your choice of ski wear Jeff, Patagonia forever. Thanks heaps for the reminder 🙂

  43. Jeff,

    Amazing content and spectacular advice! I’m so very thankful that you came into my life when you did. I was really to make a move and then there you were. The Universe is always watching 😉 Yes, the expert is always the student first. Love learning from the best!!!

  44. Lorraine Warshaw

    Reply

    Thanks for the reminder – learning from an expert saves so much time and money!

  45. Love your videos – always clear, concise, to the point – I’m a teacher and always a student, and now a student to get my business going! Thanks from Lyon

  46. Vince Czaplyski

    Reply

    Thanks Jeff, I appreciate your insights always, and this one is a real golden nugget. We can all benefit from if we take it to heart and implement it in those areas where we need to grow.

  47. Anthony Osai

    Reply

    A M A Z I N G !
    This year I had begun developing myself and doing research on how to launch my business as a business strategist. I thought to myself that learning the hard way, putting personal experience behind the theories and strategies for Business success I already knew worked and learning from my own mistakes was the best way to go. I read a quote by Newton, I think, that says: stand on the shoulders of giants. This video connected with that quote buried deep in my memory and shattered the idea of struggling through personal experience to validate ideas I knew would work even when I hadn’t personally tried them.

    Thanks for this Jeff! I learn a lot from your videos, even though I never comment. One of my big plans this year is to make enough money to afford one of your courses; you’re a true expert.

  48. shoshanna steinovits

    Reply

    you are always an inspiration!!
    yes, you remind me that one should be humble and always seek to learn more more and more.

  49. Joanne Taylor

    Reply

    Jeff. Thank you for sharing your information and experiences in “best practice”. Seems each time I have listened, you have offered nuggets of hope and next step in my selima. Much gratitude for your offerings in Mt journwy.

  50. I think my challenge is the feeling of going backwards when trying to unlearn some “crutches.” It is forward momentum that keeps encouraging me to be brave, and having to stop to relearn something “the right way” is discouraging. How do you handle that? Thank you.

  51. Thanks so much for posting this, Jeff. Like others, for me it seems to be perfectly timed; I’m experiencing this right now, though on a more personal level. I think the thing about this also is the humility. We need to put our ego aside in order to let go of old ways, to gain the new. It’s a constant cycle.
    Thanks again!

  52. This is great. I totally agree. However, how do you properly read through and see through the sales copy to figure out if a particular coach or master is right for you?

    For example, I purchased a high dollar program for becoming an online personal trainer for $5K – I have no issues with the price-tag, but it turned out that it was really for people who already had a massive following on social media, which I didn’t at the time. His program would have been great for me to purchase right about now as opposed to a year ago… but I couldn’t tell when purchasing it?

    What are your thoughts on that?

    Side note – when does your PLF come open for registration again? I bought the book and we are creating a PLF style launch based off of the book here at the beginning of April. Excited to see what this initial launch does!

  53. Mathew Peachment

    Reply

    Watching this video and the snow wants me to go skiing! Such great advice Jeff! Always learn from someone who is ahead of you.

  54. Deb Gallardo

    Reply

    @jeffwalker: Back in the mid-1970s I joined the Women’s Army Corps (now absorbed into the Army completely.) I was 25 at the time, in a company of women, many of whom were 18-19 years old. Taking “raw” Army wannabes and turning them into soldiers is almost an art form, and our female cadre had the technique down to a science.

    Because I was a few years older than most, I had a slightly different perspective than those who’d just graduated from high school. I already had my undergraduate degree. I’d taught music for two years and had performed on stage in plays and musicals since I was 14. Instead of knee-jerk-reacting like a lot of the girls, I took a step back when things got “interesting” as some people had issues with the discipline and exactness of what was expected of us.

    A lot of them didn’t have the perspective I seemed to possess instinctively. I didn’t see our training outside the classroom as just learning how to polish our brass insignia, how to shine our leather shoes, how to iron our uniforms and store them in our wall lockers, how to fold our other clothing in the way we’d been instructed, how to arrange everything else in our footlockers. Even how we made our beds was a big deal.

    What I saw that most others didn’t see was that we were being trained to pay attention to detail. Although we were not instructed in combat, we might someday find ourselves in a combat zone. Attention to detail, regardless of our field of service (our Military Occupation Specialty–MOS) was paramount for our own safety and the safety of those with whom we served.

    I seemed to have absorbed that instinctively, for some reason–just like I absorbed everything else. Up at 5:00 am to march to the dining facility, learning to run a mile within a given time frame. And since I was older, how to lead a squad, counting cadence and calling commands. (a-TEN-shun! for-WARD ma-arch!) It’s a lot like singing, which is probably why I got it so readily.

    Only a couple of girls were sent home because they couldn’t or wouldn’t adapt over those many weeks. The Army technique, at least back then, was to get rid of old habits and replace them with new, ones that would serve us and one another better. For our male counterparts, it was more a matter of tearing down who they had been as boys and rebuilding them into men, into soldiers.

    You don’t know you’ve got bad habits until someone shows you the proper way of doing them. Then you wonder how you had the audacity to think you knew anything. And then suddenly it all falls into place. Thanks for the life lesson, Jeff. You’re a master teacher.
    ~Deb

  55. Goosebumps! It took me a long time to allow myself to invest in the help I knew would make a huge impact on my business and my development. I now have my radar up for who can take me to the next level faster, with greater vision and focused positive energy. I always have something on the go now for myself. With the work I do, I also get to reach behind me to pull the next person forward. Loving it! I’ll be sharing this one with my community 🙂

  56. Thanks Jeff. Funny how you are describing my life right now. It feels like I’m a beginner again and it was feeling awful! Now thanks to you I have a new perspective- Ye ha! Maybe I really can do this! Cheers Kim

  57. Ahhh…snow! This video reminded me of when I lived in New Mexico….I learned to ski by skiing with women who grew up on skiis….as well as from a friend who had been a downhill racer. Fast forward to today – it’s why I jumped into LaunchCon and then followed it up with PLF. I’m learning from a master!

  58. my favorite trip was when I was 14, in the GRAND CANYON, before I wore a back brace in Highschool for two years, and before VACCINES screwed me up. That freedom I had is what I am trying to GET BACK IN MY LIFE. Sure is challening.

  59. Thanks so much for this video, very inspirational & re-assuring. Doesn’t feel so overwhelming now when I feel I’m ‘slipping’ backwards. I’m just slipping back to break the habits and gain momentum with expert advice!

  60. Always good to be reminded that an expert can help us turn decades of learning into days – and that when you fine tune your techniques, you are going to feel as though you’re going backwards, until the mind and body are reconditioned to the new habit. Thank you, Jeff!

  61. So true! Love taking in these new experiences and the concept of self-rescuing.

    Also (random)- loooove the crispness in your video. Gorgeous! Do you mind sharing which lens you’re using? 🙂

    Thank you! <3

  62. Thanks for the great advice, Jeff. The patience to step back before moving forward is invaluable advice.

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