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Commitment versus hesitation

In life, you gotta commit to doing things in order to get them done. Of course it’s good to plan, but the point of committed execution is almost always an instantaneous moment that you have to put your body into, not just your mind.

Surfing is a very strong metaphor for this. You can plan all you want—check the tides, check out the spot, read about it, talk to other people who have been there and even paddle out. But when that wave comes, you absolutely have to take it—there’s no other way you’ll get it. And you have to thrust your whole being into it.

The practice of commitment, like catching waves, is a deep strengthening experience. If one can harness the act of acting, there is no limit to what can be accomplished.

Hesitation is a different story. Hesitation may cost you one thing that may have led to other things. It more natural to hesitate until you’re trained to commit.

This all came down as we were signing a lease on our new house. We had to make a decision right then and there, and if we hesitated we would’ve lost out and no doubt regretted it.

In fact, this “ready-fire-aim” approach makes a lot of sense in retrospect but rarely in the present. I was given a chance to make a very important split-second decision based on what I felt was right but know was risky. I made the decision and happy I did—if hadn’t then life would be much, much different now.

The next time I’m surfing, I’m going to talk to myself about commitment….yeah f-ing right. I’m just going to do it.

Bottom line: better to stop thinking, planning, strategizing and just do it. I know I keep saying this but it’s because I’m out of words.