The Backward Bicycle
By Rusty McLenThere is an intriguing video on YouTube called ‘The Backward Bicycle’. A young engineer for NASA is called to the fabrication shop where a welder has attached an extra neck to a bicycle where the handlebars attach along with two small gears. The effect is that when one turns the handlebars to the right, the front wheel goes to the left and when one turns the handlebars to the left, the front wheel goes to the right. It seems simple to him; just do the opposite and it will be fine. However when he tries to ride the backward bicycle, he can’t. He falls repeatedly while [[more]]the welder and everyone else laughs hysterically.Later, he begins touring with the backward bicycle to college campuses and other events offering people $200 if they can just ride it 20 feet. No one can. It can’t be done. Eventually, in frustrated determination, he commits to learning how to ride this contraption. Eight months later after many falls and scrapes, he succeeds in learning to ride the backward bicycle. Eight months! It didn’t take that long to learn to ride a bicycle the first time.This humorous video illustrates the difficulty of learning and the greater difficulty of relearning. Learning is a matter of establishing a neural pathway through the brain that leads to new knowledge or skill. As we review a multiplication table, a spelling word list, or pick the strings of a guitar, we are pushing through a new pathway through the brain.An analogy would be standing on the edge of the Amazon forest in front of a wall of dense vegetation knowing you needed to travel to a specific point in the jungle before you. It will take a machete, a hatchet, perhaps a saw and an ax with a lot of time, exhausting effort and sweat. But eventually a path will be established to the destination. Imagine then, you realize you went to the wrong place. Even though you realize this is the wrong direction, you just can’t envision cutting a new path so you keep working the old one until it is an easily travelled highway. Finally reality sets in; this way just will not take you where you need to go. You find yourself hacking, sweating, and hacking some more when the open highway is just right there. How difficult it would be to resist not going down the familiar path and spare the work of making a new path.This process describes the work and frustration we experience when trying to develop a new way of doing life when it becomes clear that the familiar way isn’t working. We try, get frustrated, revert to the familiar, regroup and try again. Why is it that learning the new way is harder than learning the old way in the beginning? Maybe it is because the old and familiar can be done without thought or effort.Many of us began life on a backward bicycle riding behaviors and attitudes through life to places that aren’t good for us. Relearning will be more challenging than learning the first time, but it can be done and the rewards will be worth the work and sweat. While we procrastinate waiting for a better time to start, it is important to remember that today is as easy as it gets. It’s time to start hacking.
