Waiting for the perfect wave
By: Terri Zwierzynski | Leave a comment
Someone in a class I was in last week drew some parallels between the waves on the beach and your business. And while I’ve forgotten the gist of it now, it made me think about how surfers approach the business of surfing — and how that might relate to how we run our businesses.
Surfers show up at the beach when they can. They paddle out into the waves, looking for a decent wave to ride, and then launch themselves into that wave with abandon, enjoying every second of the experience, and going right back out to try another. There’s no angst about missing the best wave, no trying to save a wave for later. They leave the beach knowing that tomorrow, or the next day, the great waves will still be there waiting for them.
What if we could live our business lives the same way? What if, we showed up to work on our business only when we wanted. And while we are working, we launch ourselves into whatever wave of work feels right, and have fun with it. And stop working when we no longer feel like working — knowing that the work, and the opportunity, will be there when we feel like coming back.
Because these are the truths:
- It doesn’t have to be done today if we don’t feel like doing it.
- There is no such thing as lost opportunity — it’s always there, waiting to crash back into our business/life when we are ready for it.
So, delete those old emails you’ve been meaning to read, knowing that when you need the information they contain, it will appear.
Throw away the to-do lists, knowing that the work you want to do today is what is important.
And work as much or as little as you want today, have fun doing it, and when it stops being fun and interesting, call it a day and go to the beach!
Last 5 posts by Terri Zwierzynski
- 31 Time Management Tips - December 18th, 2008
- Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus - December 14th, 2008
- And now just for fun... - November 27th, 2008
- The Grateful Life of a Solo Entrepreneur - November 17th, 2008
- Can a Lifestyle be a Niche? - November 4th, 2008
January 9th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Hi Terri!
Great blog - I really enjoy reading it.
In this post, at first read (I read it twice) I nearly fell off my chair when I read the bit about deleting e-mails. I thought, “OMG - That’ll send me into complete hysteria!”
On second read, I realized (please correct me if I have this wrong) that this is pertains to the work you do “on” your business and not “in” your business.
Surely one can’t delete e-mails or throw away to-do lists when it belongs to the tasks they have for their clients but I do see the benefit in throwing away those endless to-do lists as it pertains to working “on” my business. I would feel a lot less overwhelm and allow the good things just to ebb and flow out of my business rather than crash and burn into my business.
Thanks for posting this - it made me realize how hung up a business owner can get on the small details. This inspires me to post something similar on my blog.
Thanks Terri! (Sorry for the comment rant - I couldn’t help myself! This was great!)
January 10th, 2007 at 12:22 am
Thanks for adding your comments! I’m glad you enjoy the blog.
I hadn’t thought about it…but yes my comments were mostly about working on your business, as you pointed out. Although I can also think of instances where some of us are overachievers and do more for our clients than is really necessary…and perhaps sometimes it’s good to toss those things, too
I’ve made my own New Year’s Resolution of sorts — whenever I get overwhelmed, I promise myself that I will go delete some emails, throw away some papers, cross off some tasks from my list that I think I should do, but if I’m really truthful to myself, I don’t have to do! I tried it today and it feels amazingly good…my brain is thanking me for the extra space to think!