I have been surfing for 21 years, in business for 17 years, a mother of two boys and wife for 8 years to my amazing husband William. There are many lessons I have learnt on the journey so far that have a common thread through Sport, Business and Life! Here are my top 5!
1) Always make a decision
If its the wrong decision you can make another one. Don't let fear stand in your way of you making any choice incase its may be the wrong one. Decisions are forks in the road...Life doesn’t happen to us...we are an active participant. We get out of life what we choose. More than just a choice in the moment, good decision-making takes discipline! Most of us go about it the hard way, learning what not to do and creating wisdom going forward. Being Successful at making decisions requires a methodical way of looking at choices.
2) Follow Thorough not Merely To
Do the Difficult, uncomfortable, not familiar until it becomes comfortable and familiar!
We are great at coming up with ideas. Ideas alone don’t guarantee success. Good ideas require:
3) Be prepared to do the jobs that no one else wants to do
Success isn’t glamorous, it is more often than not, a little messy but yet magnificent! The level of satisfaction and accomplishment experienced through doing the hard yards always makes ones success
4) Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard
There is no shortcut to the top, if you want to be the best you have to be putting in significantly more than everyone else, all the time. Not just some of the time.
You don’t have to be the most naturally talented player, talent takes you so far, the rest is about the amount of effort you are prepared to put in.
5) Appreciate and learn from success
When you succeed, pause for a moment, acknowledge the win. Its important. But then look at what worked well, what went wrong and make your plans to continuously improve . Keep moving forward.
Eg: In surfing the number of times you win by 0.2 is often, you can win with two 5 point rides which is considered average but you did more than what your opponent did. You didn’t walk away with two perfect tens... there is always room for improvement. Regardless of the game you play. Check the scores, replay the footage, look back and visualize if done again what would you do differently.
I have lost count at the number of times people told me “I can’t” along the way. I’m here to tell you “you can”
My wish for you is to take these principals, put them in your toolbox of life and you too can make a success in your sport, career, business and life.