BUSINESS LESSONS FROM A LONE SURFER
The waves are so big and beautiful this morning that they’re distracting me. I’m supposed to be concentrating on my work. But every time I try to turn my attention back to my computer, I hear that crash of the waves against the rocks and I can’t help but look up again to take in the beauty.
There’s a lone surfer tackling the waves as the sun rises. He’s trying to make his way out past the break. Now I’m no surfer and I probably don’t have a clue how to read the waves, but from where I sit, it looks like he could catch some pretty decent waves from where he is right now.
But yet he keeps paddling further out.
Each of the huge waves that roll through keep pushing him backwards towards the shore, away from where he’s trying to go.
But yet he keeps paddling further.
I’m noting the missed opportunities. Oh if only he’d paddled harder and faster, if only he’d turned around right at that moment, he could have caught an AMAZING wave.
But yet he keeps paddling.
Pushed back again and again
But yet he keeps paddling.
Just as he seems to get out far enough for his liking, the waves completely calm between sets. All that activity, all that swell from only moments before has disappeared.
Nothing is happening.
Poor guy.
If only he’d paddled harder and faster to catch those earlier waves. If only he’d got out of bed earlier. If only he had a better board.
But the surfer knows his wave is coming. He didn’t paddle all that way out there only to turn around and swim back in.
I hope you’re hearing what I’m saying here.
You don’t even really need the rest of the story do you?
You know how this one ends.
But I’ll tell it anyway.
The swell starts to build again.
He sees it coming, he starts to get ready, he’s in the perfect position, that momentum builds behind him and he shifts into gear, kicking and paddling as hard as he can.
Then he’s up
And it’s brilliant.
The size and the power of that wave give him an incredible ride that seems to go on forever.
He did it
He made it
What a sweet ride
What a feeling.
That would be enough of an analogy right there.
But that’s not where it ends.
Because he turns around and paddles out again, and again, and again. Wave after wave.
Sometimes he goes after waves that turn out to be complete duds that fizzle into nothing.
But he turns around and paddles out again.
Sometimes he catches what looks like the wave of the century, nothing could beat it.
But he turns around and paddles out again.
Sometimes he completely wipes out
But he turns and paddles out again.
He knows that even when the waves push him further away from his goal, he wants to, needs to keep paddling.
He knows that even when he catches a dud wave, he wants to, needs to keep paddling.
He knows that even when he catches the most incredible wave, there are more coming behind it, and he wants to, needs to keep paddling.
Because it’s never about just one wave.
It’s never about the good ones,
The bad ones,
The dud ones,
The average ones.
Whatever waves come through, there will always be another one behind it, and all he needs to do is focus on getting himself into the best position to catch it.
Wherever you are right now, whether you’re still trying to paddle out past the break and feel like you’re getting smashed backwards, whether you’re feeling like nothing’s happening and wondering if you should just swim back in, whether you just caught a shit wave and wonder if there’s any point paddling back out again, whether you feel like you just let the most perfect wave slip by because you weren’t quite ready yet, whether you just caught the wave of a lifetime and feel like you’ve FINALLY done it….or whether you’re still standing on the beach, too scared to get your feet wet….
I want you to know that your next wave is coming. You just need to decide if you’re going to get yourself into the right position to catch it.
It’s your time for more,
Mel
xx