16 10 2007
I’m back at work after my week off.
Last week I had almost five days to myself and no chores or work to do, which meant that I could do whatever I wanted. I found myself thinking about personal achievement, and formed plans to (in no particular order) become a better surfer, form closer bonds with my friends and renovate my house and garden in the coming year. That’s in addition to starting a family and spending as much time as possible with my wife.
What I didn’t do (at all) was think about my work life and goals. Today’s Tuesday, and so far it’s been disturbingly easy to slot back into the routine. The same old issues are still there … it’s almost as if last week didn’t happen (not surprising really, as it was only a week). So what I plan to do is change my approach to work a little bit. I’m not going to be able to set and achieve personal goals in the same way that I can at home, but I can come pretty close. I can push harder for truly quality outcomes rather than accepting mediocre ones due to time and resource constraints. If, in the immediate term, I devote time to tying up some loose ends, I can put more energy into innovation.
Today, when I look back at the last 12 months I see a bunch of achievements but nothing really stands out that I can really hang my hat on. That’s partly due to organisational circumstances that were beyond my control, but a piece of it is also down to my approach to my work and my career. That’s the bit I can change.
Last week Vaspers the Grate wrote a tongue-in-cheek list of reasons why a business shouldn’t blog. One of them is “… if it is totally satisfied with conducting Business As Usual (which generally leads to Business As Over).”.
Similarly, Seth Godin recently wrote that:
Most industries innovate from both ends:
- The outsiders go first because they have nothing to lose.
- The winners go next because they can afford to and they want to stay winners.
- It’s the mediocre middle that sits and waits and watches.
Those two insights sum it up for me. In October 08 want to be able to look back at this 12 months and know that I wasn’t one of the ones who sat and waited. It’s as simple as that.
Photography
14 10 2007
I had two opportunities to surf today but missed both of them as I was spending time with my nieces instead (I did watch the second half of Tubular Swells though).
So 6 surfs in 10 days. What did I learn?
- That I’m not fit enough to paddle out day after day after day (yet)
- That my hybrid board is VERY forgiving when it comes to catching waves and the time it takes me to get to my feet - I’ve been spoilt and am feeling very mediocre re my ability on the shortboard at the moment. I need to spend plenty of time on the shortboard if I want my wave count to remain high
- That Ocean Grove doesn’t handle 3ft+ on a high tide without closing out, which will make it difficult to do anything about (2) if I don’t venture elsewhere, and
- That I love surfing. Whether I’m on my own or having a laugh with friends it just feeds my soul to be out there.
Sadly the forecast for the coming weekend is for no wind and no swell. Crap for surfing but it might be time to break out Muchacha and the wakeboard ……….
Photography
13 10 2007
Got another one in this morning down at the Grove with Damian and James.
I started to get the feel of the shortboard but it was frustrating out there today. Simply, when the waves are over 3ft it closes out far too often. There are surfers out there on shortboards who seem to cope OK, but their rides are short and the paddle back out is tough, so I can’t see why they’re not at 13th or further down the coast.
I’m not expecting the ocean to cater to our whims, but each time we caught a wave today we were “rewarded” with a punishing 10 minute paddle back out through the break. 10 seconds of wave riding versus 10 minutes paddling is not a friendly ratio.
What we really need is a consistent, non-closeout, 3-4ft wave that runs left for 50-75m. Oh and if it was uncrowded that’d be great.
Ocean Grove, you’ve been fun. Your surf club makes good coffee. I’m sure we’ll be back on a regular basis. But it’s time for us to look around.
Photography
12 10 2007
Well the 10 days of surfing looks like it’ll turn into 5 surfs in 10 days. Today was forecast to be terrible so I left the surfboard at home and took Max for a walk down there instead. That was a good decision. The wind was howling in from the south-west (onshore), the rain was coming in sideways and there was almost no swell to speak of.
The view of Ocean Grove main beach from the warmth of the surf club
A Max-eye view on the path that tracks along just behind the beach (and the sun’s out!)
I’m hoping to get one last session in tomorrow with Damian but the forecast is for cross-shore winds, so I guess we’ll either cop that or head down the coast to a beach with a more westerley orientation.
Photography
11 10 2007
There’s almost no swell today so I’m giving the beach a miss. Can’t have a total no surf day though so I’ll watch a couple of surf vids instead! Might try to find Morning of the Earth, Endless Summer and/or North Shore.
Photography