4125: [Part 1] 7 Things I Learned About Life That I Learned From Surfing by Elana Miller of Zen Psychiatry on Life Lessons

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[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00] 7 Things I Learned About Life That I Learned From Surfing, Part 1 by Ilana Miller of ZenPsychiatry.com And I'm Justin Malik. Today I have a bit of a longer post. I'll read the first half today and then finish the rest for you tomorrow. So with that, let's get right to Part 1 and start optimizing your life. 7 Things I Learned About Life That I Learned From Surfing, Part 1 by Elana Miller of ZenPsychiatry.com

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00] Sometimes I'm surprised I wasn't born with gills. It's like I was meant to spend more time in water than on land. I didn't discover this until I was 13 or so when I started high school and had to join a sports team because of a school requirement. I arbitrarily chose water polo because it was a fall sport. I sucked at it but fell in love. I played competitively through high school and college. When I graduated, I wasn't ready to give up the water yet and joined a master's swim team.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00] I swam regularly through medical school, even setting a couple of records in competitions. So when I discovered surfing, well, needless to say, I was in awe. Yes, it was fun to play around in a pool but to be in the ocean, to feel the rhythm of the waves underneath me, to splash around with dolphins and seals, and luckily for me, no sharks so far, you can't beat it. Surfing is not just a sport, it's a perspective. It's a way of life.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_00] Yes, that sounds dramatic, but hear me out. Surfing has taught me lessons about life that I haven't learned anywhere else. I wanted to share some of these with you because, number one, they're valuable and applicable to many situations and challenges. And number two, if you could imagine taking similar lessons from your own life experiences, those experiences could become so much richer. Number one, there's plenty of room at the top.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_00] Los Angeles is crowded. There are more than 10 million people within its county limits. On your typical sunny weekend day when the waves are decent, the water's congested with hundreds of little black dots, each trying to carve out his or her own little corner of the ocean. For months, the crowds intimidated me so much that I wouldn't even go out. I felt insecure about my own abilities. I didn't think I belonged out there.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00] I'd wait until it was rainy or the water was choppy and go out when no other decent surfer would bother. If the waves looked good, forget it. I'd be at home. But then, as I spent more time in the water, I realized something. Of all those hundreds of bodies out there, only a small handful were actually going for the waves. The rest were just sitting around, hanging out. I had spent all this time being intimidated by competition that didn't even exist.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00] Now when I go out, I don't care if I see a thousand bodies out there. I know there are enough waves for all of us who really want them. Think about this yourself. Do you feel a burning desire to write, to create art, to build a business? Do you feel held back by all the other people you see who you think are so much better at it than you? Do you worry that the marketplace is too crowded? Please, don't be. There are not as many people at the top as you think.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00] There's room for you up there too, if you're willing to do the work it takes to get there. Number two, it's not about any one huge effort. It's about focused, consistent work over time. Have you ever heard the expression that to be a writer you need butt in chair time? Well, the same is true for surfing. You need body in water time. My friend James Clear calls this your average daily speed. It's not so important how much you do in a burst of inspiration.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00] It's about how much you do day after day when you just want to give up and go home. For the entire first six months I surfed, I didn't catch a single wave. The next six months, I caught a few. Most of the hours and hours I spent in the ocean were past paddling around, falling, getting beaten up, and jealously watching all the other surfers who seemed to know what they were doing a lot better than I did. Then I'd go home tired and frustrated.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00] But this was not time wasted. This was when I learned how waves worked, where to look, where to sit on my board, how to position myself, when I should move in because the tide was changing, when I should move out because a big set was coming from outside. I know this because one day, all of a sudden, I started catching waves. I caught wave after wave. I didn't even know what I was doing differently. I was just moving on instinct. I say all of a sudden, facetiously, because it never would have happened

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00] if I hadn't spent that first year in the water. Put in your time. The results will come. Number three, bide your time and strike when the iron is hot. First, a little background on wave science. Waves don't just roll into the shore one after the other. They come in clusters or sets. Depending on the weather conditions, the ocean will typically be silent for a while,

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00] and then a set of three or four waves will roll in a few seconds apart. I can always tell the less experienced surfers because they go for the first wave in the set. Believe me, I understand the impulse. We've all been out there, sitting around, waiting for something exciting to happen. So when that first wave comes, bam, everyone runs after it in a mad dash. Not me. I watch and wait. I watch as everyone else rushes for the wave. A few catch it,

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00] but most don't. And all of those who didn't are now out of position when the second and third waves roll in, which are typically bigger and better formed than the first. That's when I make my move and get the wave all to myself. So be patient. Don't get caught in the mad dash. If everyone's running one way, check out to see what's in the other direction. Number four, hear that on tomorrow's episode.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00] You just listened to part one of the post titled Seven Things I Learned About Life That I Learned From Surfing by Ilana Miller of ZenPsychiatry.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Every time I go in for a physical, they run a dozen markers and I walk out with the same sentence, you're fine, see you next year. Fine compared to what? I've watched conditions run through family and friends

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[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00] powered by Series 3 Intel Core so you can work from anywhere. Now starting at $699 with exclusive student pricing starting at $599. Complete your setup with savings on select monitors and must-have electronics and accessories. Limited time deals and free shipping on PCs and more await you at dell.com slash deals. That's dell.com slash deals. Thank you to Ilana,

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00] a two-time cancer survivor. And when someone goes through that type of challenge, I think it's extra helpful to spend a little more time listening to their stories and lessons. Now if I were to write a similar post, I definitely wouldn't use surfing as the analogy because I've never surfed. But the comparison is a good one. I'm going to elaborate a bit more on that comparison specifically tomorrow. But just in these three lessons alone, there's already some great advice, I think. I've had to deal

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00] with number one personally and with this podcast being an example. Number one was there's plenty of room at the top. Meaning that while there may be plenty of people out there trying to do something similar, that doesn't mean we should be afraid of diving in with them. It's easy to feel intimidated by others who are already beyond where we might ever get. But that shouldn't stop us from trying. And if I hadn't taken that first step, I wouldn't be thousands of episodes into this show.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00] Along those lines, the one piece of advice I give in business is usually to be consistent. At least putting in a solid year, if not more, of consistent work and practice to learn the ins and outs of your field and the environment as much as possible really because without that consistency and time in the trenches, there's not enough knowledge to make the right decision of either putting on the brakes and possibly quitting or stepping on the gas. But that's just the first two lessons. We're going to hear

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00] a couple of more tomorrow. So for now, thank you for being here and listening every day and I will see you tomorrow where we'll finish up this post and where your optimal life awaits. lots of questions.

[00:10:51] Let's