Olympic Gold Medalist | Performance Coach | Author I write about what it means to perform with full engagement in the second half of life.
Thinking In Waves: The Wave That Scares You
The Wave That Scares YouJumping into the deep end of the pool Without knowing how to swim In hopes of learning how to swim Is more likely to be a lesson in survival Than in swimming. Yet, common thinking And societal pressure Prompt us to Always be challenging What we most resist. Run towards the fear. Just jump in And figure out. However, Maybe "Do what scares you most" Is worthy of more nuance. Maybe there is a more effective way To challenge life's scary waves So that when the real challenge is in front of us, The obstacle becomes an opportunity. The nuance lies in Steps 1, 2, and 3 of the Wave Surfing Progression:
Let’s dig in… First, where is our Basic Speed? Much of the fear embedded in a scary wave Is scary Because We evaluate it from a standstill. Engaging our “All Day/Every Day” speed aligned to the wave Fundamentally changes our relationship to and perception of Our immediate surroundings. Basic Speed shrinks the gap Between the scary wave and us Which reshapes and resets The look of scary. Second, what is the Direction? Not only the wave’s direction but Our Direction. Our values, purpose, and goals. Aligned with challenging the scary wave? If not, no worries - Wait for the next Life Wave that Aligns with our Direction. Finally, are we leveraging the critical steps of subtraction, Wave Selection? What contributes to making a scary wave scary? Unnecessary noise, distraction, clutter, and anchors. Remove the unnecessary. Consistently. Relentlessly. Distill down to only what matters most. Challenging scary is a better journey when traveling lightly. Wave Selection removes unwanted weight. Here's the thing... Do not do what scares you. Instead, Use a proven process --> The Wave Surfing Progression To bring Objectivity Understanding Clarity To the wave that appears scary Leading to Informed choices and Better conditions For spectacular growth On life's challenging waves. With gratitude, Joe PS - Most of you live closer to the fires in Los Angeles than I do. One of our readers here in Thinking In Waves lives so close that the fires destroyed his home and possessions. Scary waves show up in our lives in unimaginable and uncontrollable ways. What is within our control is the response. In the spirit of today's essay, I am sharing the powerful response to loss from friend and fellow coach, Tony Neves. The message is as graceful and uplifting as his spirit and character. Watch the LinkedIn video --> HERE. See you on the Wave.🌊 – Olympic Gold Medalist | Performance Coach | Transition Expert | Author Unlock Your Why, Achieve Impacting Wins, & Ride Spectacular Life Waves |
Joe Jacobi
Olympic Gold Medalist | Performance Coach | Author I write about what it means to perform with full engagement in the second half of life.
How To Reclaim Our Energy In the past week, Three different times I have heard From three different acclaimed leaders Representing high level contributions to physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual states of human performance and well-being Emphasize and repeat The exact same phrase: Energy Follows Attention These super high level words are easy to Accept as obvious Push to the side Dismiss as non-critical Because Our plate is full: Work to do Problems to solve Meetings to attend...
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...
How Effortless Can It Be? After focusing on elements of "preparation" for the past several weeks, Let's return to the surfing technique that yields our ultimate benefit - Free Energy - Which lives in Step Four of the Wave Surfing Progression: Surf the Wave. Here, I turn to my amazing coach, Boyan, for a visual reflection of Free Energy's accessibility - Four Minutes of surfing waves Without a single push of forward propulsion from his paddle - Not only is this an incredible accomplishment...