I recently saw a video of a guy learning to surf.
He was clearly very new to the sport and spent the majority of the video in the ocean instead of on his surfboard.
Every attempt to stand was a battle between his body, his board, and a massive uncaring ocean.
Stiff arms and wobbly knees, fighting for balance and control.
Meanwhile his instructor was gliding around on the same ocean, on the same waves, with no difficulty.
The instructor was a tiny speck in an unchangeable ocean, and yet he took what the ocean gave him and moved with grace and purpose.
It was a crisp reminder to me that most of us are fighting the waves, when we should be learning to surf.
The Serenity Prayer highlights the importance of understanding what we can change and what we cannot change, a skill most of us could likely stand to refine.
If you can change something for the better, get to work.
If change isn’t possible from where you sit or given the tools at your disposal, learn to surf.
You can’t bend the ocean to your will, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take what the ocean gives you and turn it into something that works for you and your people.
OPPORTUNITY FOR ACTION: There are two layers here: learning to surf and teaching your team to surf. But you can’t teach them to surf if they don’t see you surfing first. Examine the most frustrating parts of your work and ask yourself, “is this something I can change or not?” If not, follow that up with, “what would it look like to ‘surf this wave’ instead of trying to fight it?” Your team needs to see you change the things you have the power to change, and navigate the rest with grace and intentionality.
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