Start as you mean to go on

Start as you mean to go on is one of my favorite British phrases. I grew up in the north eastern US. After spending a few years in my first job out of college, I moved to the UK to go to graduate school and spent almost 20 years there until recently moving back to the US. One of the benefits of spending a large chunk of time in another country is picking up new perspectives and understanding from different cultures, values and traditions. I found I tuned into the meaning behind common phrases way more than the locals because I was hearing things for the first time as an adult, so they weren’t just part of the furniture.

Start as you mean to go on is often used in a joking way to describe things like enjoying beer or wine at an early hour of the day. But I love the way it communicates an intent and commitment to a given approach. We know habits are hard to make and hard to break, so there is something really powerful about any approach that is based on fundamentals that work and has staying power. This is what comes to mind when I think about support for Long Covid symptom management - not an approach that has to be revamped, but one that is steady and impactful for the long run.   

Through my work as an economist, I ended up driving a lot of policy development efforts - mostly focused on protecting consumers (in the energy industry) and on supporting the right outcomes for people and patients in the health sector. This work involved analytics, navigating politics and bringing groups together to find solutions or negotiate a way forward. But at its core the work was about understanding patterns of behavior, and understanding what helps them to change - and to appreciate that they don’t change easily. This is good and bad news. The bad news is that it takes a clear effort over a period of time to lay down and embed new habits. The good news is that once those habits are established it’s tricky to then break them! We are creatures of habit is another expression grounded in truth. This means that approaches that are effective but also allow you to continue to benefit from the same actions over time are more likely to be done and serve a person well over time. 

I love skiing and being on snow (as does Andrea!). I alpine ski raced a little, but mostly I loved sharing the slopes with others who were passionate about enjoying time on snow. While I was in college I was invited to be a ski school instructor at a local mountain and discovered a whole new joy in helping others enjoy the sport. Alpine skiing is all about getting the right body shape and doing repetitive motions, while making micro adjustments to account for snow conditions and terrain. One of my first bosses was a brilliant skier and leader from Bavaria in Germany. His approach to teaching skiing was simple and ingenious, and different to most. Most ski programs teach people speed control in a “wedge” or “pizza”, and then teach them how to ski after that - each phase has some crossover, but they involve different techniques and motor patterns. He developed a program called Parallel From The Start, where the fundamental premise was that you teach people more advanced ski techniques right away to help accelerate their learning in the early stages, and to allow them to draw on these skills to continue to develop and thrive as skiers. This meant that people never had to unlearn what they have learned, never needed to develop new motor patterns.

My husband learned to ski with these tools when he was in his early 20s and is now an avid skier. This is the approach I used with all family members I have taught how to ski. The other weekend my husband took a group of international students to the ski area and taught them all how to ski going “parallel from the start”. They were all up the hill and skiing off the chair lift comfortably and with the foundations of great technique on the first morning.

Reflecting on this approach from the ski world made me realize that experience no doubt helped inform my later work on policy and behavioral science. Andrea and I have fully embraced the “parallel from the start” approach as we considered what tools will be most effective for people looking to manage Long Covid symptoms. The tools selected can be done in a few minutes a day and gentle enough for people who are just rebuilding their foundation and capabilities. They are also tools that people can continue to use to enhance their performance, mental sharpness and support healthy brain body connections even if they are an elite athlete. Meaning these tools aren’t just for “recovery”. They are tools and habits you can continue to use and benefit from. This makes the work you put in to make them part of your routine is well worth the effort. They are tools and habits that will continue to serve you well, and stay with you as you gain abilities to help you continue to feel better - letting you start as you mean to go on.

Warmly,
Katie

PS: I recently met up with my old ski school boss, and other friends we worked with back in those days. We are all a lot older now, but had a great time and were reminiscing about how effective the Parallel From The Start program was. There were many stories about generations of individuals who have benefited, and people didn’t need to acquire a new set of tools as they improved. We embrace this approach as part of our program, which means you can learn the tools and techniques once and continue to use them as you move forward.