When I moved to Costa Rica, I started surfing.
I was never a surfer when I lived in the US, even though I grew up in California. Surfing was intimidating. Yet now, we lived near the beach in Playa Guiones in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. I was an avid snowboarder in a land with no snow. So even though I was in my forties, I decided to face my fears.
Learning how to surf revealed the patterns in my mindset. And because I coach entrepreneurs on mindset and breaking through blocks, surfing caused me to be intimate with my own mindset gaps that hold me back.
Comfortable in the water, I wasn’t afraid of being held under by big waves.
What terrified me was the drop-in when going down a steep incline . . . .
Here was my pattern:
In the few seconds of catching a way, the ego takes over.
Can I do it?
Fear sets in.
And each time, I back off the wave.
I wasn’t fully committed.
Others surfers will tell you: once you decide it is your wave, go for it.
The ambivalence can be costly because by not attacking the wave full-steam, you can be catapulted over the falls and be injured more than if you simply stood up and fell off.
I would see this same pattern in clients. They committed to a goal only to second-guess themselves. And that gap of indecision affected their results until they shifted.
My coach Jordan Irwin at Chorotega Surf School encouraged me: “Be confident. You’ve got this.”
But despite my best intentions, I chickened out.
Surfing showed me the self-limiting pattern:
Where in my life was I not fully committing?
Where in my life did I allow fear to pull back from fully executing success?
I’ve learned intimately what I teach to my clients: The power of deciding and committing.
So this week I focused on a breakthrough:
I hired my surf coach for daily surf seasons. I needed consistency.
And Jordan showed me my blind spots.
We watched a video of me surfing. I messed up on the pop-up.
I had a bad habit of looking down at the board instead of down the line I was heading.
And this habit of focusing on your vision, instead of the current reality, is what trips up many entrepreneurs in business.
Once I saw the bad habit, I could correct it.
And the past 2 days have been epic!
My Tica friend and surfer Lau taught me another mindset tip. In person, she possesses a soft feminine demeanor. But in the water, she says, “I am a beast.”
Often, when in the lineup, she explains, even if I am in the best spot to take a wave, another surfer will sense my indecision and take the wave.
Lau corrects this from happening by attacking the wave with ferociousness. She yells at the intrusive surfer in Spanish, “It’s my wave.” She adds some expletives too.
Because she has committed to the wave, other surfers respect her in the water.
It’s the same in business.
It’s the same in business.
Once we declare our vision, we must muster the energy to fully commit to realizing our vision.
Once we declare our vision, we must muster the energy to fully commit to realizing our vision.
I’m sharing this story and this video of me surfing to remind you that if what you are doing is not getting results, focus and tweak any gap in your mindset to improve your results in business.
And just as I hired a coach to show me my blind spots, ask for support from a peer or a mentor. You will save time and money in the end as you will achieve your results faster.
Founder of the Affluence Method, Tera Maxwell, Ph.D. teaches motivated people how to consciously bring their dreams into physical reality and live a life of abundance. She counters the hurdles of indoctrination by teaching others to connect with their higher purpose and intuition, accompanied by the release of energy blocks.
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