How to Become an Expert
How to become an expert.
Seems the above statement should be a question until we get clear on what it means to be an expert.
I remember hearing a formula for so many hours of practice at a specific activity and then one becomes an expert. Where the weeds get thick is when this activity gets a label which implies one thing but in practice is nowhere near what’s been promised. One example that the internet loves to poke fun at is martial arts, when someone gets labeled a grand master black belt but their particular art is deemed ineffective in the street or in MMA, often dubbed Bullshido.
How to discern who is an expert? Are credentials essential? Does it matter who the credentialing organization is or who funds them? What’s the lay person’s litmus test?
The Tools For Surfing The Waves of Life course gives us the foundation to discern and decide what’s most likely true and the best decision we can make.
In the below video I explain the modern way one can become an expert:
I have so much fun and meet and reconnect with wonderful people at the 
On day I added up the parts cost of one of the carbon fiber camera mounts I was making, the total was almost $200. I saw the bamboo poles that were sitting unused in my garage and remembered I only paid a few bucks each for them. So I spent the next hour hacking together a bamboo mount, tried it in the surf the next day, and it was a total and instant failure. I gave up on bamboo for a while.
Once upon a time surfing was a group activity where everyone knew each other, everyone was welcome, and every wave was a party wave. After surfing there was a beach fire party and a seafood feast with live music and dancing. Today it is likely that complete strangers sit next to each other and the only words spoken are to tell each other to get off their wave. Also 
One dark cold early morning my cousin took me to surf Fort Point. First time I had been and it was bigger than I was comfortable with, I was feeling scared and anxious. My cousin jumped off the rocks and breezed out like it was effortless. I watched for a bit and then scrambled down the rocks slipping and banging my knee on a sharp rock, I sort of crawled into the water and then flailingly paddled as hard as I could to get outside before I got smashed by a set.
Did you make a New Year’s Resolution last year? How is your resolve, did you stick with it the entire year? How about prior years? Any resolutions that you made years ago that you are still practicing? Congratulations if you answered yes.
