Half Measures

 I see it at work everyday. We see it in the places we shop and the restaurants we patronize. People doing sorry work and not taking any pride or responsibility for the garbage they put out.

 We had a department manager that was a total jack-wagon by every measure of people skills you can think of. He was rude and disrespectful; he birddogged his people and even got put on the street for thirty days for being his bright and cheery self.

 I would get mixed reports about the guy. Polar opposite reports (imagine that). Now me being me I decided to ignore all the stuff I was hearing and do a little thinking for myself. I also started keeping an eye on the guys he was in charge of. I learned some things.

1. Yes the the was a jerk and probably went too far on occasion.
2. There was no way he could be wrong all the time (I figured that going into it).
3. He probably had a reason to be harsh at times.
4. I also found out the guy cared about his people and wanted the best out of them, he just didn't
    have the people skills to get a losing team to pull themselves out of a self imposed hell.
5. The most important thing I learned is the man just wanted his people to show up on time and do     their jobs correctly and efficiently. That's it.

 So what's this got to do with fishing? Let me tell you what it has to do with fishing. If you take it seriously then you need to treat it like a job like you actually care about it. Not that it isn't a fun activity or that you need to be uptight and rigid, that's not what I'm saying.

 What I'm saying is this. If you're going to spend your most precious resource (your time) on it you may as well be serious about catching fish. Learn from your failures and fine tune your  successes. There are going to be days that you get to take sunset pictures and days you're shooting fish porn faster than you can say Ron Jeremy.

 Now I mentioned work because I see the same behavior on the water. Folks want to go out drink beer  and listen to music instead of focusing on a game plan and working that plan. No they'd rather get drunk and sun burnt then make excuses as to why they don't get their desired results or at least the ones they say they want. Or call it luck when the guy at work lands bigger fish than him rather than asking for tips (mentorship).

If you want to get past where you're at you need to do a few things.

1. You need to know why you're out there.
2. You need to fish with a focus and purpose.
3. You MUST put the time in.
4. Find a role model and do what they do.

Over my next four posts I'm going to handle each of these topics individually. Until next time.

Tight Lines
H