Dropping Back

In the process of surfing a wave,

It can be so easy to

Lock In,

Dig deep,

And convince ourselves

That we either

SURF THIS WAVE

Or

Everything will be lost.

So we

Grind

Fight

Persevere

At any cost

Because

We are sure that

This is THE WAVE.

I love capturing the energy

Of a great opportunity.

But, doing so with a tight grip

Rarely serves me well.

The basis of Thinking In Waves

Is built upon the Wave Surfing Progression

That I learned and continue to develop under the guidance of Coach Boyan.

However, there are many other talented and wise surfski coaches around the world

Whose ideas support our Wave Surfing Progression,

Especially this one from South Africa’s Dawid Mocke, whom I met many years ago, before I knew I wanted to paddle a surfski.

One of Dawid’s “Wave Rules” is:

There is always another Wave behind.

As simple and obvious as this sounds,

How often do we

Let Go

And just

Drop back

To the next Wave

That waits behind us?

When we are in the midst of surfing a Life Wave,

Dropping Back

Opens a space

To reset our

Positioning

Timing

Alignment

Which facilitates

A Better Ride.🌊

The opportunity to Drop Back

Exists all around us...

Social situations

Wellness routines

Professional engagements

Or a pause for further reflection.

The more we believe that

We can not afford to Drop Back,

The more forcefully we can ask ourselves:

What is the cost of fighting to stay on a wave that is getting away from me?

With gratitude, Joe

PS - Thank you to so many of you who followed up and replied to last week's essay. While I don't publish every Thinking In Waves essay to my website, I love sharing unique experiences with and lessons learned from Coach Boyan. So, I made How Effortless Can It Be? available--> HERE.

See you on the Wave.🌊

–

​Joe Jacobi​​

Olympic Gold Medalist | Performance Coach | ​Author​

Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves