Go play

Long-term readers will know I have been learning to surf. I will never not be learning to surf – as in I will never reach a destination of ‘surfer.’

It has been humbling, frustrating, joyous, terrifying, fun and challenging. Sometimes all of those emotions are experienced in one surf.

I have been in a little slump. The surf has been tricky. My confidence has dropped dramatically. Oftentimes, naivete is so liberating because we have less fear. 

I need a reset. 

People who have mastered their craft will know that we are never brilliant all of the time. There are peaks and valleys. Good days and bad days. 

This is the journey. All of it. The good days and the bad days. 

It is how we traverse the bad days that makes excellence encoded with humility. Any elite athlete will tell you that. Excellence without humility is a fall coming soon. Gravity will win every time.

As I write this, it occurs to me that the reset I need is to know the journey, embrace my slump. Allow it, not fight it. Hello slump. Hello lack of confidence. Hello mindset of fear. I see you. I will not resist or deny your presence. 

It will shift when I catch a few good waves in succession. When I relinquish my ‘beat myself up’ mindset, and go play. 

And that is the key. When it becomes too serious, too comparative to the last session, or to the other surfers. 

Go play. 

Being a founder, creator, or entrepreneur requires the same perspective when the days, weeks or months are tough.

Published June 17th 2026. Photo taken June 17th 2025