I’m still a pretty bad surfer, but adopting a growth mindset
has given me a little more freedom to look at every day in the water as a
success. A day on my surfboard when I don’t catch a single wave (which still
happens more often than I’d like to admit) isn’t a bust, because the end goal
was never to go out and have a picture-perfect, awesome session. The goal was
to get out there, push myself, and learn something.
It’s easy to feel this way when you’re a true beginner.
There are no stakes, no expectations, and no past performance to weigh against
what you’re doing today. It’s what I love about being a total rookie—you’re
allowed to ask questions, make mistakes, and, if you really settle into your
kook status, look at failures as successes in some small way. When I try to
catch a wave and pin it headfirst into the water, I know I’ve messed up.
But I also know that the more I pearl, the more I’ll know about how not to
do it in the future. It’s all a part of mastery, which isn’t about being a
master at something but the act of becoming that. When you make
mastery your goal rather than proficiency, a setback is still a step in the
right direction. The means are the end.
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