The Effortless Trap

I signed up to the local surf school and yes, I did (and still do!) have the time of my life.

Falling off. Again and again. Laughing at myself. Buying myself my first board and wetsuit and realising I was the worst surfer they've ever had the 'privilege' (?!) to teach. When they told me how long it took for them to reach a blind girl to surf and then I proceeded to take double that time. I tried so hard. I started specific surf strength training and surf pilates. I still couldn't get up.

While it's definitely true that it took me longer to learn than most, what is also true is that surfing as a sport is highly unpredictable. In fact, your ability to surf waves largely has nothing to do with you – it has everything to do with what happens before you even touch the water. It's the swell direction and swell period. It's reading the wind and energy of the waves. It's choosing the right location for the conditions, and the right type of board to suit where's the break given the tide line, where's the rip to paddle out on?

None of this looks like surfing. But it has everything to do with it.

Businesses that look like they're growing effortlessly have done and continue to do this same invisible work. They've learned to read the conditions and have deliberately set up their infrastructure and rhythms so it happens by default.

If you don't read a wave properly, you may be able to pop up, but you'll put your weight in the wrong place and stall out. The same goes with business. If you don't read the conditions right, you'll invest your resources in the wrong place and performance will plateau.

Just like waves start thousands of miles offshore, much of what influences your business is out of your control. But some of it you can. Knowing the difference between the 2 changes everything.

This is the read vs build paradigm.

Businesses that plateau aren't usually doing the wrong things. They're doing the right things in the wrong conditions – and they don't know it because they've never stopped to read the ocean first. That's not a strategy problem. It's a diagnostic one.

I spent months trying to surf harder when what I needed was to read better. I wonder how many of us are doing the same thing in our businesses right now.

Love to hear your thoughts....