Double Dutch

When I was a little girl, I was rather good at skipping.

Being good at skipping required a few skills that may have served me well in business, but have wreaked havoc on my personal life.

One of these skills was anticipation.

Double dutch goes like this.

I'd wait at the side while two friends, each holding the ends of two individual skipping ropes, would begin to turn. I'd rock back and forth on my lead foot, judging exactly the right moment to enter. Then, once I'd figured out the rhythm, I'd plunge in.

Everybody has there on way to skip double dutch. Mine was a hop-hop kick. Knees up. Sometimes a little half kick to the side.

But the secret of doing it without stepping on the skipping rope and stopping the action was always the same.

Become one with the rope turners.

Anticipate their feelings. Know what they were going to do...before they even knew it themselves.

The trouble with anticipation is that when you get too good at it, you lose that sense of where you begin and the rope turner ends. It's all about the rope turners.

You focus so much on what they're thinking and feeling and doing, that you lose sight of where you fit into the whole game.

Maybe if you stopped for a moment, you might realize that you're tired of skipping altogether. In fact, maybe you'd rather be bowling.