Sometimes it’s not you, it’s the bike!

During the pandemic, moderately priced bicycles were hard to come by.  My husband found me one for $100 on a resale site.  It had quite a bit of rust on the sprockets and gear shifters but, it worked well enough for what I needed in the beginning – which was to just get out of the house and get a little exercise.  I nicknamed the bike WD-40 because it took a lot of lubrication to work smoothly.

My husband and I started with short rides on flat terrain, but soon we were challenging ourselves with longer rides and more changes in elevation.  There is one particular hill on our ride that takes a great deal of effort for me to summit.  There are many times when other bikers pass me and get to the top with ease.  And, while there is no reason for it, I often find myself feeling embarrassed and like I am in their way.

One day, one of the stronger riders passed me on that hill and waited for me at the top.  She cheered me on those last few yards and congratulated me when I made it.  She shared with me that this hill was hard for her the first few times, too.  Then she shared only what another cyclist would know.  She said her bike weighed less than half of what mine did and her bike had more climbing gears.  This meant her bike provided here a way summit the hill with less effort.  I was actually working harder than her!

A few weeks ago, I got a new bike – one that weighed less and had better climbing gears.  The difference was amazing. I am not going to say I flew up that hill, but I will say I was smiling when I got to the top instead of gasping for air!  I had energy left to for a longer ride.

Think about the strategies your child is using to complete their daily tasks.  Do those strategies take a tremendous amount of effort to get the desired result? Maybe it’s time to get a new strategy.

Chaos Free Family participants can learn more about developing effective processes in the Chaos Free Improvement Method lessons. Click here to join the Chaos Free Family.