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For the past six years, my husband and I have enjoyed great hobby: autocross. If you aren’t familiar with this sport, at it’s most basic it involves driving your car around cones in a parking lot. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Kind of like how golf involves hitting a little ball into a hole.

It’s pretty simple to understand, yet a lot goes into doing it well. Last night I got to thinking about how there are things we do in autocross that can translate to life lessons. Here are a few:

1. Always look ahead. On the course, you should be focusing your attention to the elements that are coming up, not on the corner or feature you are currently at. In life, too, looking beyond the present is good advice.
2. Walk the track. In the early morning, before the race starts, we always walk the course we are going to drive. Multiple times. We study the elements and challenges that are presented and make a plan for how we are going to approach each one. We figure out where we are going to place the car, where to brake, where to accelerate. We look at everything from the start to the finish. When you are thinking about making changes in your life, this principle holds true, too. Before you commit, think things through. Where are the pitfalls? How will this affect other parts of your life? Will this get you where you want to be?
3. Use the map as a guideline only. When the course is set up, it doesn’t always follow the printed map exactly. There may be changes due to safety concerns or other issues. So, memorizing the course map is a bad idea. When you map out your life, remember that things change. Having a general idea of where you are going is great, but be flexible and allow for adjustments.
4. Never coast. Coasting means you aren’t charging forward. On the track, you should either have your foot on the accelerator or the brake. Be in control of the car. In life, coasting means allowing people and circumstances around you dictate your direction. Take control!
5. Find the important cones and ignore the rest.  The folks who design our courses like to put cones in places that distract the driver and cause them to lose time or go off course. You have to learn which cones to focus on and block out the ones that are “white noise” (or orange noise in the case of traffic cones!). Sometimes things happen in our life that are nothing more than distractions. We have to learn to ignore those and focus on what will make us better humans.
6. Compete with yourself, not with others. When I first started autocrossing, I would look at the stats sheets and cry because I wasn’t as fast as my fellow competitors. I quickly learned that the best way to get better was to use my first run as a baseline and try to improve on my subsequent runs. When you compare yourself to others, you aren’t being fair to yourself. You aren’t like anyone else; you have your own strengths and areas to improve.
7. Trust your ride. This is one of my biggest struggles. I have to trust that my car can take the corners faster and hold the line that I want. In life, don’t be timid. Give your job, your relationships, your direction everything you’ve got and trust!
8. Remember to have fun! Like any hobby, the reason you do it is to relax. Don’t take things so seriously that you forget to enjoy yourself. If you aren’t finding things in your life that make you happy, it’s time to reevaluate.

I love my hobby. The racing community is full of great people. I learn so much from my friends, not just about racing, but life as well. These are just a few of the lessons that can be learned. I’m sure I could come up with dozens more. Think about your own hobbies. Are there life lessons to be learned there? I’d love to hear about them!