Recent surfing competition on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach started with sighting of a big, scary shark.
Dusty, a pro surfer exited the waters of Ocean Beach in first round heat of competition, after noticing something big and moving in the water and never came back.
“I was sitting out there and saw something in line up.” Dusty said in the statement. “I have seen dolphins before and that wasn’t dolphin. That was the biggest fin I have seen in my life, and it was right in front of me.”
The shark sighting came few days after 27 year old surfer was bitten by a shark in not too far away Monterrey area.
Anyway, I know Ocean Beach. I surf there regularly. It can be a pretty scary place to surf. Sun almost never comes out of the fog out there and surf is usually big and violent. So, I can relate.
Kelly Slater won the competition. Did he know about the shark sighting the day before right there where he was surfing? Of course he did.
Was he afraid the next day when he won? Of course he was.
Even the surfer, who will tell you, that he is not afraid of sharks is very afraid of them.
Yet, he was in the water competing. And he won the competition.
Kelly Slater and other high performing individuals learned how to conquer their fears.
No, the fear doesn’t go away, It stays. Important is, what you do next.
Don’t let fear paralyze you. The most successful achievements and ventures lead through some scary situations the encounters went through.
The fear will always be there. What you do after is important. Are you going to crawl under the table, or face your fears and win?
It’s with anything in life, if it’s running a marathon, picking up kite surfing, joining a gym, asking for a date, swimming open water competition or quitting your job and starting ghost hunting business. If it feels a little scary, you are on to something. And if you don’t let the fear paralyze you, you will most likely win.