Ira Riklis Blog

September 28, 2009

Ira Riklis — on the New York Yankees

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 2:14 pm

Ira Riklis is a big fan of the Bombers, Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees. The Yankees are based in Ira Riklis‘ hometown.

This year the big draw is the new Yankee Stadium. Fans,  players, and members of the New York City community, including noted New Yorker, Ira Riklis loves the new stadium. It is like a shrine to baseball.

You see, Ira loves the game, the sport…but it wasn’t always that way.

It was 1977 and the first World Series to which Ira paid much attention to. It was still four years until Ira would visit Yankee Stadium and see the Yankees play. He’s been a devoted fan since.

It does come at a price though — the tickets are expensive. Not that it stops Ira Riklis. He’s right, because as promised, ticket prices will adjust for 2010. Prices for 97 percent of tickets will either remain the same or decrease.

Of the 50,086 seats in the Stadium, prices for 41,928 tickets (84 percent) will remain the same from 2009, while 6,454 tickets (13 percent) will see a decrease in price. There are 1,704 tickets (three percent) that will have an increase in price.
So we’ll see you at the stadium!
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September 25, 2009

Secrets to Ira Riklis and His Success

Filed under: Ira Riklis — admin @ 1:40 pm

Here’s the secret. There is no magic pill or secret formula to being successful. Instead, according to Ira Riklis who is a successful businessman: it takes a goal, persistence, and plain, old, hard work.

Another successful businessman and author Malcolm Gladwell says this in his book Outliers

“The difference between the “haves and the have not’s”is 10,000 hours. Gladwell calls it the 10,000 Hour Rule. He points to phenomenal successes like Bill Gates and The Beatles. These were not particularly brilliant or gifted people—just hard workers. They put in 10,000 hours of more of consistent work on their focus.”

- More about the book in Wikipedia

Do you agree? What have you been so passionate about (for Ira Riklis, it’s skiing and business) that you would gladly throw yourself into it to be successful?

I think another interesting thing is how many people who work hard in life are just as popular (or more so) after they die! They stop doing the work and other people pick up where they left off and make a lot of money doing it. In other words, a measure of your successs is that your legacy continues long after you do.

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September 22, 2009

Ira Riklis Skis

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 1:32 pm

Since we’ve been talking a lot about Ira Riklis and his favorite sport skiing, I wanted to post this photo I found of Ira’s first skis. He bought his first pair of skis with money from his bar mitzvah. He was into skiing young.

I wonder if Ira has ever entered skiing competitions? Does he do flips or stunts? helicopter skiing? Many you’ll find out in future updates…

Here’s a picture of Head skis like the ones Ira Rikis had from the late 1960’s.

Here’s what you’ll see:

  1. The first pair of skis are the Head Standards.
  2. The next are the Head 360’s, like the pair Ira Riklis bought for myself with his bar mitzvah money.
  3. The last pair is named for Jean Claude Killy. He was the French racer who became only the second man ever (and still) to win all three men’s alpine events. That took place at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble.

Ira-Riklis-skis

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September 15, 2009

Ski Tip #3 Sidestepping

Filed under: Ira Riklis — Tags: — admin @ 1:10 am

Here’s a Ski Tip a la Ira Riklis: Learn to sideslip your skis.

Everyone needs to learn the valuable skill of sidestepping. It’s a way of getting out of trouble or out of a tight spot. It’s a valuable tool and can get you out of situations that otherwise could turn dicey. It could be a very steep slope or one that is too narrow. Perhaps the snow is too icy and you’re going too fast to confidently make turns.

Sideslip can get you down these runs safely. Even advanced skiers like Ira Riklis will encounter places he has to sideslip.

Practice:
If you sideslip a lot you can get quite good at it. Practice makes it seem effortless and natural.

  1. Find a short hill that’s not very steep.
  2. Stand across the hill so your skis are perpendicular to the fall line.
  3. Hold your arms held in front of your chest (as if you are a server carrying a tray). Put your weight on the inside of your downhill ski boot and roll your feet and ankles downhill. Your skis will begin to slide down but your job is to keep the skis perpendicular as you slide.
  4. To stop, roll your feet and ankles uphill again and dig your ski edges into the snow.
  5. Repeat in the other direction.
  6. Keep your shins against the front of your boots. Lean into it.

Hope these tips are helpful in your journey to expert level skiing.

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September 10, 2009

It’s in the Technique Says Ira Riklis

Filed under: Ira Riklis — admin @ 3:24 pm

Your ability to master anything starts with your instructor (says Ira Riklis) and their skiing technique. Again, this could easily apply to life and business.

There is an art to mastering anything and it is in taking something from being recited steps to flawless execution of a task. If you don’t get the rhythm you need to do this, then you’ll fall.

Most teachers tell you a set of moves and set you thinking your way through a difficult task (in this case becoming a master skier):

  • lower your left shoulder
  • raise your right shoulder
  • lean your torso in
  • push your bottom out
  • bring your left elbow
  • lower your right elbow
  • balance your weight evenly on your feet but bend your knees
  • lean into the ball, etc., etc., etc …

But the point Ira Riklis makes is this:  you can’t think your way through a ski turn at the expert level, you simply have to move with the rhythm (like dancing).

Here’s another approach to mastery:

Identify the ONE thing in your technique which stops you from getting the rhythmic motion you need. Work on that ONE thing so that it becomes something you can do from memory (muscle memory). In other words what was stopping you is changed and practiced until it becomes easy for you. Until you do it without effort and flawlessly every time. You dance.

Genius.

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September 6, 2009

Bracing for a Fall

Filed under: Ira Riklis — Tags: , — admin @ 3:09 pm

“I wanted to be an expert skier. But that would never happen if I tried to find an easy and safe way.”

Ira Riklis talks about how learning to ski and overcome fears is part of becoming an expert skier. It also applies to life. There isn’t a shortcut unfortunately. You have to face the fear of falling (or failing).

“…there is no easy way to learn to make an expert turn. Let me repeat, there is NO EASY WAY to learn to make an expert turn…A non-expert skier is scared of falling. Having broken a leg and an arm, I can understand why. The tendency is to lean into the slope so as to feel confident…”

What’s the difference between the beginner and the expert? faith in your abilities and the courage to go down a steep mountain face first. Yes, the scariest way possible.

“In an expert turn, the skier has to have faith that every move will be executed properly and on time without thought. That means that if anything is off, the effect will be to launch yourself, not unlike a missile, down the mountain, FACE FIRST.”

Ira Riklis says it’s a painful process of learning — and it hurts!

“I named this maneuver a “face plant” because it was like planting your ski pole but using your face instead. In the effort to learn to be an expert skier, I performed many a face plant. To truly understand how difficult this process is, you must realize how painful each face plant is. Not only have you been punched in the face, but some of that snow (often ice) feels like a brick.”

He says the pain is difficult but worth it:

“The pain radiates down your entire body, especially your chest because after the face plant you land with a thud on your chest. Then there is the fact that your face is covered in freezing snow, which as it melts now saturates your clothing.

But after some practice the payoff is there and the pain is a past memory:

“I don’t remember the face plants really anymore; but every time I glide down a slope and experience the exhilaration, I don’t know if I can even find words to explain the joy and thrill that I feel. Mike got me to understand that I had to trust the turn and that I would eventually be rewarded by being able to complete the turn.”

The result of your hard work to master something difficult is joy. This is a microcasm for your life. It’s not easy to face but to be truly great you must go through suffering. Not around it. Not above or below it. But through it.

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