You’re out snowboarding, fresh powder, bright sunny day, and you feel yourself about to tip over. The beginner would fall right over and get a fresh face full of snow. Not fun. But if you keep at it a bit, you realise that you have more control over whether you fall on your face or not. You realise that when you feel yourself tipping over, you can correct yourself, or at least attempt to. That’s a pivotal moment, the moment you take some control over your learning, and don’t leave everything up to fate.

These moments happen all the time when you’re learning new things. A bit of persistence, and also a bit of effort, and you can stop yourself from having an embarrassing fall. Now it’s just a matter of piecing these moments together, anticipating when they will come, and taking the correct course of action to avoid disaster. If you’ve done it right, you’ll know that while unpleasant, falling over is not nice, and that becomes motivation that helps you progress.