A couple weeks ago I had a “me day.” No work related stuff, no emails, no marketing, no cleaning the apartment, blah blah blah. Purely indulging in self. Every now and then you need these kind of days to reset yourself and clear your mind. So I started the day surfing at one of my favorite spots tucked away in Newport Beach, 46th Street. Now that kids are back in school, California beaches are pretty much a ghost town. You’ll find a couple mother’s with their infants out tanning, a straggler here and there, and a few surfers that got the right idea with life and are out having a session before work or during their lunch break.
During my session I started thinking and somehow related surfing to my music career. Weird I know, but with the growth of my teaching studio this last year I’ve started making the strangest analogies, this is actually a pretty normal one. Here are the 7 lessons I learned from surfing:
1. It’s not always about how great you can swim, but how long you can hold your breath.
Every surfer can attest that at some point you’re going to get slammed, even the greatest of greats. Sometimes for 5-10 seconds, sometimes 20, sometimes more– and each second under the water can feel like minutes. Experiencing the ocean makes you respect nature and makes you realize that no matter how strong or talented you are you can’t always fight the waves of life. When you’re going for those big opportunities, those big risks, it’s not always going to play out the way you want it to. What matters in the end is how long you’re willing to stick it out during the hard times. Being a decent swimmer helps too.
2. Commit.
When you make the decision to go for that wave give it 110% and don’t wuss out because you’ll either miss the ride or you’ll get tossed like a rag doll. Either way it sucks, and it’s all because you didn’t commit to the wave.
3. Sometimes you need to go back to the basics.
There are days where you’re going to find yourself struggling and you don’t know why. Sometimes the best thing to do is to step back. Surf the easy days/play the easy songs. Hit the gym/do the boring exercises. You’ll probably find that what’s throwing you off is something so basic and simple but you didn’t realize it because you were so consumed by the bigger and crazier things that weren’t so important.
4. Patience and preparation is key.
Waves come in sets. Sometimes you’ll be sitting on your board for 15-20 minutes or longer waiting. Be ready though, when those waves or opportunities come through you don’t want to miss them or be thrown off guard, or in some cases off your board. Another thing, don’t give up and paddle in to shore because no waves have come through for a while. Wait and be prepared, your time will come.
5. With the highest highs come the lowest lows.
You could’ve just gotten barreled and had the ride of your life, grinning ear to ear… and then the rest of your session is just horrible. It happens, life has its hills and valleys.
6. As the waves get bigger and better, the competition gets fiercer.
For the people who have been in the game for a long time, little 1-2 foot waves don’t do it for them anymore. If you’re looking for those bigger waves, those bigger opportunities, you’re not going to be alone and the people around you during those times will be just as hungry for them. With that said, respect those people around you during those times, because it takes a lot of guts and determination to be out there going for the bigger waves. It will make you stronger, improve your character, and coincidentally make you appreciate the simpler things in life. Crazily enough, once you get past those head high waves and start riding those double and triple overhead monsters… the crowd thins out. Not very many people are willing to work that hard or risk everything they have to ride the big waves.
7. Learning how to surf is learning how to fail.
Strangely enough… as I was writing this little blog I came across another one called “Learning How To Surf Is Learning How To Fail,” here’s a little snippet from it. I encourage you to read the rest of you have the time:
“…learning how to surf is learning how to fail. This really struck deep. One of the most haunting things I’ve read in a long time was an article about a new study that came out that discussed children’s responses depending on whether you praised them on effort or ability. Praising on effort was telling the child that you were proud of how hard he tried. Praising on ability was telling the child you were proud of the actual achievement or talent/skill that seemed to correlate to the achievement.
The study showed that the kids praised on ability took less risks, cheated more, took failure more personally, felt entitled to success, and had a hard time bouncing back. Kids praised on effort, on the other hand, embraced failure, didn’t give up, and were ultimately more successful (and happier) than kids praised on effort.”
http://www.theinertia.com/surf/learning-how-to-surf-is-learning-how-to-fail/
That’s my little blurb for the day. Keep on trucking along, whatever it may be. Til next time.