sometimes, there are days when the candy-asses are making you look like a candy-ass padawon learner. in other words, you just can’t surf. nothing’s working, it’s like your throwing a baseball with your left hand (if you’re a rightie, of course.) to get over plateaus, whether in business or in surfing it’s a good idea to mix it up. go for a swim. do some ding repair. hit the skate park. get out of the water and step out of the proverbial box. surfing and biz only work when you want it and you’re hungry for the rewards. it also helps when there are photographers and hot chicks on the beach.

A few things I’ve learned from surfing:

1. The first days are the hardest days. Prepare to get pounded, and have to strengthen up… grow some new muscles and balance skills

2. Patience. There are ups and down cycles. Some days it’s totally flat (broke). Other days are too high or closed out. Hang in there, enjoy the beach… keep coming back and you’ll get rewarded with perfect conditions for your skills – a bit of paradise.

3. It’s usually worth it to find untapped opportunities – even if it’s a long or lonely road to get there. Crowded breaks (niches) are harder and you have to hustle . Rippin’ local dudes like Cameron will snag your waves.

4. Sometimes it’s better not to think about it too much. Surfing and snowboarding are very clean, very non-linear-thinking activities where I feel very present – I can turn of my mind and just move – and then my best thoughts come to me afterwards. Be in the present moment, keep moving and doing your thing – and you’ll eventually get the insight ya need.

It’s presidents day weekend here in south florida… today the surf is as flat as Kansas… hoping for some nice, clean, not-too-choppy or windy swell!

In surfing it may be knowing that you could take an entire set on the head and get pushed down the beach or loose your board. That sucks, but if you already have thought that through and know how and where to either paddle back out or swim in you’ll likely be fine. Several ways to apply that to the online world as well.

Great post, never thought of that many correlations with biz and surf but they totally work. On #4 it is good to know when to pull out of the wave too. Once you realize the wave is going to close out you need to pull out or you get sucked over the falls, I think the same goes for business, once you realize what you are focusing on isn’t going to work, pull out before you get sucked over the falls and lose more money and more importantly time.

@Steve – haha, yes, they definitely both take balls! i’ll be out there just as soon as the rain stops.

In surfing, when you first start out, just paddling to get to the outside might be tough for you. The correlation here is the difficult preparation it takes to set up your business, develop the right model, and grow your customer base. However, as your business grows and you have a success and ride a business wave in you’ll have to get back down and paddle your way back into the line-up.

This preparation will become easier but without the right preparation for each wave of success you’ll never have a chance to compete in the line-up.

If I had to add a point it would be . . . you have to have some balls to go big and be great! It takes a lot of courage to swim in the ocean, let alone ride the big waves that nobody else will touch.

See ya towards the end of Neptune!

I’d love to meet sometime. I’ll be in SD from 12/24 – 1/6…hopefully we can make it happen as we have very similar interests it would seem.

Talk to you soon.
@ryangraves on twitter

Cheers.