Ride the wave in the direction it’s taking you

This post has been brewing in my head for quite some time and I even used the title as a point in another post that I submitted for publication elsewhere. Then I realized this one line is a blog post in and of itself.  For the first several months of my surfing experience, I could catch waves, but only go straight. I was a good surfer, and my mechanics were fine, but I was missing out on a much longer ride. Then a friend told me to look for the peaks, and that will be the direction the wave is going. That transformed the experience for me quite dramatically. Inside each of us is our greatest strength (aka the direction that the wave is taking you).

I told you a few days ago why I decided to quit my job in two weeks. The reality is that the wave was carrying me in a completely different direction towards writing, social media marketing, entrepreneurship, and innovation. When I asked some people what they thought my greatest strength was, one of my very good friends said “You have have an innate ability to come up with really cool ideas.”  So, I thought, well if that’s the direction the wave is going to take me, then that’s where I’m going to go.  In the last few weeks I’ve built relationships with tons of bloggers, I’ve started a project to launch a second blog, I’ve come up with product ideas galore that I actually can execute with my skill set and I realized that I better get on that wave.The thing with riding a wave in the direction it’s taking you is that you get  a much longer, much more effortless, and much more fun ride.

HOW TO RIDE A WAVE IN THE DIRECTION IT’S TAKING YOU

Identify Your Greatest Strength: Identifying your greatest strength might seem a bit confusing at first, but it’s quite simple. Think about what’s always come naturally to you in your life, and you’ll have one possibility. Think about what you could do for hours and not even notice the time passing by.  Finally, go ahead and ask the people around you. Put it on your Facebook status. Even if you get one answer, you’ll learn something valuable. The other day when I went to see the international program coordinator at Pepperdine, she told me that she thought my calling in life was to be a writer.  I also got a comment from on my blogging friends, Lisis (shout to you) about that.

Leverage that Strength: Once you figure out what the strength is, identify where it can be leveraged. I figured my ability to write, be creative, etc could make me a good social media marketer or something along those lines. I also am putting work into launching some of my own products.

Everybody has the ability to ride the wave in the direction it’s taking them. But, not everybody has the courage to do it. Sometimes you just have to say fu#$# it, and take the plunge.

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