If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same...

Yours is the world and everything that's in it...

— excerpts from the poem, "If", by Rudyard Kipling

The process of becoming complacent about the way you dive is insidious. It can sneak up on you stealthily and unremarked until one day, something happens, which makes you realise with a jolt, that you may not be the careful, conscientious, omniscient diver that you thought you were.

Here are a couple of examples.

The base is made up of certainties—that is, the things we have been able to put into the boxes and are confident we have in place—which are managed or manageable, or are irrelevant to us. The more uncertainties we still have in life—which we perceive as relevant—the more stretched our resources in juggling the balls we have not yet found boxes for.

He raised a hand to stop the countdown and searched around to see if he might have inadvertently taken it off and put it down on the bench next to him, but he could not see it. He had left it back on the liveaboard. When the countdown resumed, all his fellow divers went in without him.

Ego simply refers to self and how we feel about ourselves. This results in our thoughts, emotions and behaviour. Where an ego is arrogant, overbearing, misguided or delusional, then bad things can and often do happen. However, having a big ego is not, without a skewed view as above, going to cause any problems—in fact, quite the opposite. Let me explain.

Recently, while working my day job, I was at Heathrow Airport in London for three days to work with a group of very talented executives who ran a successful multinational company. My role was to enhance conversations, guide and challenge participants on strategy development and to get the board of directors working as a cohesive team on issues that challenged both themselves and the company.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of being involved in some fantastic teams, sometimes in a leadership role, sometimes as an advisor helping to form a great team, and in others, as a team member. These teams have been engaged in pursuing objectives in sport, from international rugby to motorcycle racing and rally driving, through to high-performing teams in business. Over the last few years, I have enjoyed being part of dive teams, particularly in technical diving.

In 1977, two Boeing 747s were on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport, Tenerife. The plane from KLM was lined up, ready to take off, while the plane from Pan-Am was taxiing down the runway towards the first, to exit, turn around and await the former’s departure. However, there was thick fog, and neither crew could see each other.

But sometimes, particularly when we are feeling a need to prove ourselves or need a sense of approval, it becomes more difficult. Typically, when people think of peer pressure, they are referring to the influence exerted on an individual to engage in “anti-social” (BAD!) behaviors. Peer pressure is often cited as the culprit in smoking, drinking, drug use, dangerous sexual behaviors and eating fast food.

 

On a dive boat everything is going well and all are having a good time. Suddenly a shout for help is heard from the port side. Looking over, a pair of divers is seen and one appears to be unconscious. Two members of the party dive in and assist the buddy in getting the stricken diver to the swim platform. Stripping the gear from the diver takes but a few seconds. Getting them into the boat takes a little less than a minute more.