Articles

This maxim appears to be the unconscious solution for many divers tackling one of the most critical issues in the SCUBA diving: sustained personal skill development.

By frequently diving beyond the limits of their certification, sometimes facing objectively more demanding conditions, and surviving these challenges, divers often confuse "experience" with "mastery".

The greater problem arises when, even unconsciously, we rely on a level of competence that is merely perceived and not real.

In this document, we aim to lay the groundwork to bring clarity to this issue by providing a map from where we currently are to where we should strive to go, and how we can get there, while avoiding the costliest tolls along the way.

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Whether this is a story of a predestined star or an unexpected underdog, and whether it's about overcoming real problems or simply boosting skills for our diving excellence, this is a story that deserves to be told because it can change many diving careers.

In this free PDF is the whole story.

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But while we can't even imagine to make it exciting, we can still make it useful.

In this free PDF we propose a challenge for those who want to transform a tedious requirement into a helpful tool.

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But what constitutes an efficient pre-dive check can be a debatable point. While all divers agree on why the check must be performed, and there is strong convergence on what to check, more diverse opinions exist on how to execute this vital procedure, even though we all have learned the same basic procedure.

In this free PDF we discuss the official state of the art, the unofficial possibilities that are becoming more popular every day, and a trick usable regardless of the chosen procedure.

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The huge number of available options, combined with the fact that success doesn't depend on us alone but is shared with our buddy, makes this skill a true lottery. Given the prize divers could lose, it's clear that this is a lottery we must win.

In this free PDF we discuss options to win, and even a few cheats to improve divers’ odds.

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But motivation is both so personal and so public, always carrying the risk of displeasing someone when discussed.

Yet, there are cases when discussing motivation would help, and others where it's absolutely necessary, because it determines the solution we adopt, and even the decision of whether or not to adopt any solution at all.

In this free PDF we discuss the motivation necessary to achieve diving skill improvements, whether it's about pushing performance beyond the almost physiological improvement and level that comes from initial courses and early experiences, to achieve personal excellence, or even overcoming a genuine problem.

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Not being able to evaluate ourselves as SCUBA divers means that we are moving and acting randomly.

And what if the yardstick itself is inadequate? Using wrong metrics, we would not be moving randomly … we would be moving straight in the wrong direction.

In this free PDF we analyze the definition of mastery used to judge most of us as students in a diving course. We discuss the related implications during the course and the limitations of what follows, aiming to arrive at something more useful for now, as certified divers.

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But avoid ruining our precious dives it's easy.

In this free PDF no news of course, only the good and bad of the most widespread beliefs.

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Nevertheless, we often struggle with at least some aspects of our performance, or at least, we don't perform as well as we would like or should, considering the time or number of dives we've dedicated to SCUBA diving.

So, why does this happen to so many of us?

In this free PDF we discuss a list of potentially limiting factors capable of hindering any progress, and against which we must prepare the right countermeasures.

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Knowing what these pitfalls are, we can avoid them, to achieve better performances and more satisfying dives.

In this free PDF we discuss and question diving agencies, their courses, standards, and PROs. But we also question divers, the fuel of the whole system. Regardless of the diving agency's flag we wave and the diver we are, the finding can be a milestone in a diving career.

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