Don’t Try to Surf

Don’t try to surf, don’t do it.
The less you do, the more you do.
Let’s see you pop up. Pop it up.

I’m 90% sure that this scene from Forgetting Sarah Marshall Starring Jason Segel and Paul Rudd is most of what you need to accomplish things. It’s so common, I think, when facing a new challenge to think e.g.

“I wonder if I could…”

But the space in between wondering and doing is so often just filled with self doubt, procrastination, and comparisons. It feels like a question worth asking, but the answer (of course) only comes from trying.

Which leads me to ask: why wonder if you can do, when you can just… do? People don’t get better at surfing or art or writing or running by wondering and thinking, they get better by doing and failing.

It feels strange for a person who identifies as a “thinking person” to turn your brain off for a moment and just start doing, but almost every time I’ve done it, it’s worked out better than the times I haven’t. The proof was in the pudding, and I could try (and try) again.

Don’t try to surf. Just surf.