Surfing

As I begin work on what possibly could be my 4th attempt at company building, I begin to ask myself all the questions again, “what the hell am I doing?,” “why haven’t any of the others turned out as I’d hoped?,” “Am I just running from something?” I have to say that I can beat myself up pretty good for pouring so much into the previous ventures, and then just pretty much abandoning them. The truth is, this is harder than it looks. It’s difficult to pull ideas out of the air and push them into a working thing in this world, but man it sure is fun.

My mom experienced 2 of these abandon moments with me, and as usual she always had the right thing to say. She told me that what I’m doing, or chasing your dreams in life really, is a lot like surfing. If you want to surf, you have to at least get out into the water…and being out in the water isn’t quite enough, as you’ll have to at least try and get up on a wave. And the truth is you’ll fall, probably a lot. It can and probably will be frustrating (much like learning to ride a bike, I remember demanding that my mom tell me how to balance, which of course she couldn’t do) But those falls are fun, and even more importantly they’re educational. You learn a little bit more about timing and balance with each fall, prepping you for the next approaching wave. The longer you stay out there, the more often you fall, the more prepared you are for the wave that will pick you up and carry you ashore. So here I am, out in the water having fallen a few times now. Some people are hinting I should just give up, some people joke I’m wasting my time, and others are encouraging me to keep at it. With each attempt, I can see major improvements to my whole approach. Each wave is a little easier to get up on, a little easier to balance, and the rides last a little big longer, and I’m still falling. But it sure is a whole lot of fun. I’m not going anywhere.

Maybe people who chase and reach their dreams aren’t any smarter or luckier than us, they just tolerate a lot more falls.