Many people have written about the similarities between life and surfing. After spending the last three months learning to surf in Sayulita and Puerto Escondido Mexico, I finally really get it. I get what it means to me at least. In July of 2021, I picked up surfing for the first time in beautiful Sayulita Mexico. I had the scrapes, cuts, bruises and sore muscles to prove it was not easy to learn. But even as a beginning and being far from a good surfer, the highlight of my days were almost always when I was on the water attempting to surf. I’d look forward to trying to go out and catch even just one or two waves, even if that meant I’d miss wave after wave after wave before I finally got that sweet feeling of riding a wave even.
While learning to surf, I’ve come to realize there are many life lessons that can be taught through surfing and riding the waves. I’ve laid out 15 top lessons I’ve taken away from surfing as it applies to life, business and trying to be the best human I can be. Know that this list of lessons is far from complete and know that when I’m talking about the waves, I’m just as much talking about life as I am the actual wave from the ocean. So, here we go
17 Life & Business Lessons From Learning To Surf
- Focus on the feeling. For me this was and continues to be a bit of a tough lesson. I try to think, think, think about what I need to do next when in actuality, over-thinking causes me to stay still and miss some great waves. Instead of only trying to figure out how to ride the wave by thinking my way through it, focusing on the feelings along the way is equally, if not more important. When I allow myself to feel the wave pushing me forward faster, when I can feel the surge of water beneath me, then, I can get up and go with more ease. Knowledge is one thing, but it’s nothing without also knowing how to feel what’s happening around you.
- Get out of your head. Stopping thinking and starting feeling means you need to get out of your head and into your body. Just like learning a new language requires practice, so too does getting into your body, tuning into your surroundings and quieting the mind. When you think (and maybe even overthink) about everything, you can miss out on the present moment because you’re stuck in your own head.
- Let your body lead you. Your body and subconscious mind are incredibly intelligent – without you needing to do a damn thing. Instead of fighting these powerful intelligences, let them lead you to new places. I experienced this lesson very clearly during my second surf lesson in Sayulita. For my first time surfing, I decided to take a lesson with a local instructor. Definitely a good idea anytime you’re doing something new – try and learn the ropes from someone who knows what they’re doing. In hindsight though, this guy wasn’t so much a surf instructor, he was more so just a guy who could surf who was giving lessons. During this ‘lesson’ we established I surfed goofy, meaning my right foot is at the front of the board and my left foot is at the back of the board. So, during this lesson and the three times I went surfing on my own after that, here I was, trying to get my goofy stance to work to get up and ride the waves. The truth is, it wasn’t working so well. I’d get up here and there to catch some waves, but it was far from consistent and my body always felt a bit off trying to get up the way I was supposed to for this way of riding a board. After getting frustrated with the seemingly lack of progress, I decided to take another lesson. This time from someone totally different. Like the last lesson, in this one, we were practising getting up goofy. My teacher soon recognized my mind just wasn’t getting it though. When we were practicing on land I’d have no problem nailing the goofy to get up. Back leg, front foot, stand up, was the movement I was aiming for. When I was on the water I’d repeat this sequence in my head so I’d remember it because my front foot always wanted to go first. A wave would come “ paddle paddle paddle – get up- get up” my instructor would yell. Paddle, paddle, paddling I was and then when it was time to get up, no matter what I was telling myself in my head, my front foot would always go first and I’d fail to get up properly. Finally, my instructor took me back out of the water and said, “Ok. Let’s try something. Typically this is more advanced, but your brain wants to have your front foot first, so let’s stop fighting it and try going with it”. She showed me the jumping style to get on the board. It felt easy. On land at least. But on land I could also do “back leg, front foot, standup” no problem too. So, I wasn’t so sure about this. But, back in the water we went. As a wave came in she yelled “paddle, paddle, paddle- get up!”. This time, I tried the new jumping way of getting up, and I rode that wave all the way in baby! Ha! I’m a jumper. Now, I use this technique to get up (although I still don’t get up every time for sure) and it’s so much easier and most importantly, intuitive for me so it makes the entire process seamless. By listening to my body and going with that, the result I was looking for became easier and more enjoyable. Lesson learned if you keep trying things one way and don’t get the result you want, try things another way. Preferably one that’s easier too.
- Trust yourself. Once your body and mind know what to do, it will do it. So much of our life happens without our awareness. How we breath, blink and have blood pumped throughout our body. Trust that you already know what to do and then let yourself do that.
- Brace yourself when you see trouble on the horizon and you’ll be fine. When you see trouble coming your way, don’t panic, prepare. Grab onto your board, hold on tight and get under the wave. When you can prepare yourself for what’s to come, dealing with it is a whole lot easier.
- Timing is everything. To catch a wave, timing really is everything. Paddle out too early and you wear out your arms from paddling for too long or you get hit by the wave. Paddle out too late, and you’ll miss the wave all together. We certainly can’t time everything in life. But, recognizing that timing is a piece of your success and trying to time things as best as possible will help your odds. People often overlook just how key timing really is in life. Lesson learned- know timing plays a factor in life and try to best work with it to catch the waves you want.
- Set yourself up in the right position for success. There is an ideal starting position to be on your surfboard. And there’s a best place to be in the water to catch the waves too. If you get these starting positions wrong, you’re setting yourself up for more struggle than is necessary. You can’t control the waves coming in, but you can control parts of your environment to best catch the ones that do come your way.
- You don’t need to chase every opportunity. As an entrepreneur, I oftentimes want to do everything all at once and chase every opportunity I can. The same can be true on the surfboard. The problem with trying to catch every wave though, is you might miss the right wave for you to catch. If you’re too exhausted from chasing a bunch of little waves or trying to catch your breath after taking a wave that was too big for you, the perfect wave might just come and go without you ever getting to ride it. This is just like life. If you’re chasing every little opportunity that takes you nowhere, you’ve got no time, energy or money to ride the big awesome wave that’s going to be incredible and exactly right for you. Be patient and learn to be selective. Not every opportunity is worth chasing.
- Get in front of the wave. You want to see the opportunities coming and get in front of them so you can really ride it. If you start too late, you’ll never catch the wave, no matter how hard you try.
- Enjoy the ride. When you finally do catch a wave – yaaaaaa, ride that baby and have some fun! At the end of the day, you’re on the water to have fun, so make sure you’re present with that joy that comes with having the wave take you on a journey!
- Focus on where you’re headed. Aside from getting up on the surfboard, staying on the board was my second biggest problem when I was learning how to surf. That’s because instead of focusing on where I was headed, I was looking down at where I was. I was afraid of falling and losing the position I was in vs. being excited about riding that wave and focusing on the awesome place I could end up. Stop being afraid to fall. Focus on what you want instead of what you don’t want. And look at where you’re going, not just where you are. You aren’t going to be there for long.
- Be aware of your surroundings. There are lots of elements around us that can help us or hurt us. If you don’t know what’s lying below the surface, if you aren’t aware of who else is around you and the forces you’re dealing with, you can get yourself in bad positions. Take stock in your surroundings before getting into new situations and remember to continuously stay tuned into your surroundings.
- Know what’s realistic for where you are right now. I started writing this post after leaving Sayulita, Mexico. I’m finishing this post while in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Puerto Escondido has 10 different beaches. Not every beach is good for surfing. Some are better for learning to surf like Playa Carrizalillo and some are for pro surfer only like the infamous PLaya Zicatela. If you are just starting out and you attempt the wrong beach, chances are you will get hurt.. Know where you stand with your abilities and respect where you are. If you want to move beyond where you are, you need to be committed to do the work to get there.
- Falling is part of the process. If you’re a business owner, you know there’s a lot of falling that happens. But, business isn’t about how many times you fall, it’s about getting up, dusting off the dirt or sand and keep going back. You have to be ok with falling. Falling can feel like failing, but it’s not. It’s part of the process. If you aren’t falling you probably haven’t gotten up. Or, you aren’t pushing yourself. So get up, get out there and fall damn it.
- The journey is so much more fun when you let yourself enjoy it. If you let yourself have fun along the way, even the bumps and bruises don’t seem so bad. As soon as I start to let go when I’m on water, I catch more waves, have more fun and just “am”. This is where the magic happens.
- Don’t be so afraid. Learning to surf is intimidating. You can get pulled beneath the water, there can be boards coming close to you, there are rocks, you can swallow water and every now and then you might just think…is that a shark?. There’s lots of opportunities for you to feel fearful. But, here’s the thing with fear. It blocks you from focusing on what’s on the other side of all that. When you focus on everything that can go wrong, you’re overshadowing the greatness that you really want. F the Fear and Ride that Wave!
- Let things go. Don’t hold onto what doesn’t serve you. The sooner you can do this, the sooner you can get back up and catch the next incredible wave coming your way.
Being a beginner at something is hard. You’ll want to quit. You’ll question if you should be doing it. And you’ll wonder if you will ever get to the level you want to be at. But if you don’t keep trying, you’ll never know. Like everything in life, you have to try and you have to keep going. Learning to surf in Mexico has been incredible from a mental, physical and spiritual perspective. It’s humbling and an adventure all at once. Can’t wait to go catch the next one, even if I swallow some water along the way.
If you’ve had some great life lessons from surfing or another sport, let me know. Would love to hear the lessons you’re learning while you’re out there living life.