You can’t control what you can’t control
Achieving results with discipline, hard work, focus and purpose
Rick Takahashi, 13 times US surfing national champion, was born and raised in San Diego, California. As it is with most surfers, he started skating. Both skating and later surfing would happen the same way: through Rick’s friends. Surfing was fun, and it was not seen as anything more than a hobby until entering his first contest and making the final. Realizing there was something special here, he decided to put more effort into it, and the rest is history.
Throughout his career, Rick has amassed thirteen national titles and also six runner-up finishes, “I still remember all the seconds.” This comment gives such a peek into his mind, as does the fact that, when he placed second or third in his first national final, he entered one more division the next year to make up for losing the year before. Rick came home with both national titles he competed in that year. Some people that don’t know Rick might think he’s too serious, fighting for his space in the water, even while training.
“Going into the water, like any other sport, I have goals and things I want to work on. I do talk to people, but I’m pretty focused on what I want to get accomplished in a short amount of time.”
He makes specific and hyper-focused goals, such as getting thirty turns in one hour to replicate the wave pool trip he is getting ready for. This precise preparation helps him get the work done, ensuring the progress he needs is fully worked on in each session.
When it comes to his preparation, mindset is everything.
Some call it the killer instinct, some call it the clutch gene, but the movie that Rick links to this mindset is from the 2000 film, The Replacements starring Keanu Reeves. It’s that “winners want the ball at the end of the game. I probably won more national titles in the last thirty seconds than I did the rest of the time. I would wait until I had the best opportunity, and then I wanted that chance, and I thrived for that moment to rise to the occasion.” This level of accomplishment under pressure is unbelievable.
Rick has come in first place in thirteen national titles and has placed in the top two nineteen times, and it is in the last thirty seconds of the race where he is ready to go for the kill. Not being afraid of the moment but rather reveling in it is a critical quality and can be one that allows for someone to indeed perform at their best when it’s all on the line. Another quote that he uses to explain how he can achieve these feats:
“You only default to what you’ve mastered.”
“You’re never going to rise to the occasion if you’ve never been there and never trained for it; you’re only going to default to what you’ve mastered.”
Rick knows that he has prepared immensely, making sure to get the best out of each session and accomplish his goals for them, so when the moment comes, he can go out there and perform.
While the physical benefits you get from training and building up to competition are important, it is the fact that your mind knows that you have tirelessly and relentlessly prepared to do all you can to prepare for that moment that lets you know you can do what you’re supposed to do. You have total confidence in yourself because you have put in the work. This amount of preparation allows an athlete to focus only on the moment and what they must do. It will enable the athlete to be in the moment and present without distractions.
The way that Rick goes about training his mind is through his work ethic, “when I couldn’t get to the beach when I was young; I would fill up my backpack with water and go run the hills. I used to say I may not have the most talent, but I won’t let anyone else outwork me. I knew I would have the cardio to compete with anyone else.” There were times when the only time he had to run was at night, cold nights around twenty to thirty degrees. Many in this spot could make excuses why they didn’t have to run, but instead, Rick ran. He attributes this to strengthening his mind because he knows many others are not running in the cold. So many other people are not working the way he is, and it allows for a level of confidence to know he has that benefit when competition day comes.
One of his friends allows for an incredible example of this mentality, none other than two-time Heavyweight Champion of the World, Chris Byrd. As he prepared for a fight with Evander Holyfield, Byrd learned that Holyfield was waking up at six in the morning in Florida to go for his runs. After discovering this, Chris woke up at 5 AM for his runs in Flint, Michigan. It was snowing in Flint, and Chris couldn’t see his tracks on the way back. He knew he was outworking his competition.
Deeply understanding he can’t control everything is another tool in Rick’s arsenal to help him grow and prepare for competition. He is a Christian and spends a lot of time reading the Bible, and this boosts his preparation for competition mentally. When he first began competing, he would ask God for help, but as he’s grown, his perspective has changed after considering, “does God really care if I win?”
Rick is a lot more detached from results, and all he can do is put in the work, prepare and fight, giving his everything. He wants his friends and others to win some, although he doesn’t take his foot off the gas for competition and training.
Studying Jocko Willink’s message and other top-level performers such as David Goggins helps him train his mind. He feeds off of the leadership mindset many of these people have and found a lot of inspiration in Willink’s book Extreme Ownership along with one of the most popular videos on his YouTube channel, Jocko Motivation “GOOD.”
Followers across the globe find motivation from his messages of discipline, ownership, and incremental improvement.
Anxiety has been all but eradicated from Rick’s competition because of his Christian faith. This faith has allowed him to trust the way the challenge will go, and he gives an example of some of his mindset with a story of how he was able to score a 9.5 to win a contest in the last thirty seconds. It all went well, and he had the wave he needed, “but before that wave came, about thirty seconds before the last thirty seconds, I was like: Okay God is it time to be humble and congratulate all the other guys.” Then, the wave came. He refocused, reloaded, chose to be in the moment, embraced the opportunity, and got the number he needed.
This story is so illuminating in how the mind of such an incredible athlete is at work in the midst of success or failure. When all the chips are down, he isn’t fully relying on himself or worried about if the wave he needs will come, he is contemplating if it isn’t the plan for him to win and maybe it’s someone else’s time. He wants to win and has the killer instinct, but Rick understands deeply that it is greater than himself and that it won’t always go the way he wants every time. This helps when the wave does come because instead of spending the entire build-up to it being worried that he may fail or he needs the wave, Rick is contemplating how it could be good for others and the possibility that he just doesn’t get the wave he needs.
It’s worth sharing the powerful serenity prayer to help people during trials, competition, or simply during planning on what to do next:
“God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things that I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”
Anxiety often stems from fear, one of the most challenging things to grapple with. One of his mentors, Marcus, a pastor, has always told him to make good decisions. To not put himself in bad positions and to be able to understand his limitations. He isn’t out here hitting all the big jumps when he snowboards anymore as he has aged. If he is going to get hurt, it feels way better to get hurt surfing rather than doing some other risky sport or activity. As time has gone on, he knows he needs to focus on his sport because as you age, it is inevitable that you become more injury-prone.
To deal with social media distractions, Rick creates a schedule for his posts and most of his things to know when he needs to post and maintain his sponsorships without spending too much time on it. There are so many different stimuli that you must deal with trying to grab your attention on social media, from surfing to videos of cats. His schedule allows him to remain active enough to get good interaction but still maintain his life work ethic.
As competition or training goes on, it is often easy to begin to make mental mistakes as you fatigue. After understanding he makes more mistakes later in sessions, Rick realized he needed to change how he is surfing to optimize his training despite fatigue. He uses his Garmin watch to track how much energy he’s spending and how many calories he puts into his body beforehand. This attention to detail goes all the way into knowing that if he runs after 2 PM, he won’t have his legs the next day when he starts training again. The only way to discover this is from unique attention to detail and awareness of how he feels based on different factors.
It is often the first heat that he feels the most vulnerable when it comes to competition. It takes time to get loose and get a feel for the day.
Rick gets stronger as the competition goes on because he has consistently believed in himself and put in so many grueling hours that he can genuinely default to what he has mastered.
“Send me” is a very meaningful phrase to Rick and is something he has used to show his faith through his platform. It stems from his life verse from the Bible, Isaiah 6:8, “I heard a voice from the Lord saying whole shall I send, who will go for us, and I said, “Send me.”
It asks us to see if we are ready and prepared for whatever obstacle we face in life, and those who will be able to answer the call will be ready for the fight. There is no room for fear or doubt, just a choice to push forward and find a new way to keep pushing on when adversity does inevitably strike. An example of this was how Rick switched his cardio from running to hill repeats when faced with a calf injury. Hill repeats are extended trips up large hills repeatedly “until you die.” He couldn’t run for months, so he found another way to train and felt stronger than he had in years. Pushing forward and finding an answer rather than letting an injury be an excuse for his progress is just another example of how Rick can continue his high level of competition.
Rick Takahashi is a fierce competitor. He is a highly decorated athlete and has finished first or second nineteen times in national titles, winning thirteen. He has many tools in his arsenal to improve and rely on, such as self-talk, finding mentors, meticulous preparation, and overall awareness of where he is in the moment, with his faith in God playing a significant role in each of them.
When it comes to his happiness, his foundation is God.
“Love God and then love your neighbor as yourself” is a verse that acts as a critical driver for Rick. Investing in those around him, into people and relationships, has been the foundation of all his endeavors. New jobs started from Rick being authentic, true to himself and his values, making good connections along the way, and finding opportunities. He told his team at La Jolla High School Surf Team:
“You never know what that person is going to be and how you can pour into people to encourage them to be better.”
“If God was to open every door for you, why would he make doorknobs? You gotta put in the work.”
These two quotes go a long way to show that you must play an active and positive role in the lives of others along with your own life.
Helping others is where fulfillment and meaning genuinely come from. We are in this world to evolve, to be the best versions of ourselves.
We have a lot to learn from Rick, not only out on the waves, but also in how we treat every person and every moment in our lives.
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