Hard Work, Resiliency, and Sacrifice | Surfer, Mick Fanning

Mick Fanning (0:00)

The last thing I saw, it was just, my board was stuck on its fin, just sailing off into the sunset.

And I was just like, I'm out of here, and just started swimming, swimming, swimming. But then I had to stop, because I was like, if I keep swimming and I don't see this thing, it's just going to grab my legs and I'm properly done.

Michael Gervais (0:28)

All right, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm Michael Gervais, and I trade in training, a sport and performance psychologist, as well as the co-founder of Compete to Create. And the whole idea behind these conversations, behind this podcast, is to learn from people who are flat out switched on and have dedicated their life towards mastery. And at this point, I'm much more interested in mastery of craft and mastery of self. And when we first started, it was more about mastery of craft, and there's been this subtle shift in this awakening about the importance of mastery of self through mastery of craft. And what we're working to understand is how do they organize their inner life? And what are the mental skills they use to build and refine their ability to be able to do their craft across conditions?

And the deep part of this is like, what are they aching for? What are they searching for? How do they find a sense of inner peace amidst some of the most chaos or consequential environments? And what are they doing to really sort out the multi-dimensional aspects of what it means to be human in modern times?

I wanna take a minute here to announce a really exciting event that we have coming up. As you continue to navigate the challenges and opportunities of 2024, I wanna pose a question. What are you doing right now to be great with stress? How are you working with stress on your pursuit towards your most important ambitions and goals? And I just wanna get right to the heart of the key elements, one in particular, for what it takes to excel in today's high heat, high stakes world. Because stress is not the problem that we think it is. Stress is a synonym for change. And our ability to be agile with change, that is the real opportunity at hand. So if you're wanting to unlock extraordinary results and sustainable performance in your life, it's not about avoiding or reducing stress. And as simple as that sounds, it's very tricky to do. But it is about fundamentally changing your relationship with it.

And that's why I'm so thrilled to invite you to a special event. It's a free virtual event that we're offering. And it's called The Power of Embracing Stress. It's on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. So to sign up, just head over to findingmastery.com/training. Whether it's advancing in your career or improving your health or cultivating stronger relationships, I think a new approach to stress can be one of the most powerful unlocks for you in your life. So join us for this free virtual training, The Power of Embracing Stress, on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. Go to findingmastery.com/training to sign up once again. Once again, that's findingmastery.com/training. And I'm really excited to see you there.

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Now, this week's conversation is with Mick Fanning. And he's a professional surfer, but more than that. He is, first of all, he made a massive dent in the sport. And the reason he did that is because he was aggressive in how he approached being a professional sportsman.