Written by Peter Bregman (link to original article here)
A recent early morning hike in Malibu, California, led me to a beach,
where I sat on a rock and watched surfers. I marveled at these
courageous men and women who woke before dawn, endured freezing water,
paddled through barreling waves, and even risked shark attacks, all for
the sake of, maybe, catching an epic ride.
After about 15 minutes, it was easy to tell the surfers apart by
their style of surfing, their handling of the board, their skill, and
their playfulness.
What really struck me though, was what they had in common. No matter
how good, how experienced, how graceful they were on the wave, every
surfer ended their ride in precisely the same way: By falling.Some had fun with their fall, while others tried desperately to avoid
it. And not all falls were failures — some fell into the water only
when their wave fizzled and their ride ended.
But here’s what I found most interesting: The only difference between a failure and a fizzle was the element of surprise. (click here to continue...)