The Mindset of an Ocean Rower

This is the 3rd part of a 5 part mini-series about my experiences of building a project that allows us to row across the Pacific Ocean. We are Team HODL, a 3-person crew attempting to row across the Pacific Ocean to raise donations for The Ocean Cleanup , while setting a World Record. Check out our Instagram and GoFundMe to donate

Understanding the Infinite Vision and the Finite Goal

Sport shows us experiences, and reinforces traits such as resilience, determination, tenacity, and resolve – the same qualities are needed to succeed in business. One area of conversation many people compare sports and business is on the topic of winning. There is an assumption that being able to win is a capability that can be transferred to the working life. The underlying issue with this thesis is that in the ‘business game’ the objective is not to win - the objective is to keep playing, keep perpetuating the game. A finite-minded leader plays to win, while an infinite-minded leader plays to survive. Therefore, a finite-minded leader works to defeat others while an infinite-minded leader works to improve their standing among others. I think many people misunderstand the concept of winning in top sports teams. Both winning a match and having won a championship is a moment in time. But to win in the future, is a never ending state. I think some of the greatest sports teams and professionals deeply understand this; Mercedes F1, Pep Guardiola, Chicago Bulls. I’m not arguing that these teams did not want to win, but they understood that in order to be the best, it was about achieving success continuously.

I want to point out that many might argue “if you don’t aim win, then you can’t be successful in the long run?”

If a team is only chasing the next win, they will only ever be able to do this by following the rules of the game in the current moment. However, as we know, rules change. These aren’t just the formal rules like the size of a football pitch or engine sizes, but also the unspoken cultural changes such football teams having more developed technologies to improve player’s fitness and therefore, the fluidity of the game has changed in the last 20 years. If you aren’t able to adapt to new changes in the sport, you may win today, but tomorrow you will be left behind.?

“Winning only lasts a few moments, then the wheel continues to turn” - Toto Wolff

I want to bring context to this discussion. Our rowing project has an 18 month timeline. The finish line is Hawaii. In order to complete the row, our objective is to cross the finish line. This means, our objective is quite literally, to survive.

Now after everything I wrote, many may think we do not consider performance. Wrong.

Performance is in everything we do?

To win is a moment in time, performance is all the time. The term high performance has received a lot of attention in the past few years. High Performance has spoken in detail too many athletes and entrepreneurs about the various definitions and they all slightly vary. There is not a one-size fits all. However, one clear thread from many of their answers is the sharing of a common vision for the future within the team. Interestingly, the visions are always too large for an individual to achieve on their own and therefore, can only be done by a team. This even applies to individual competitive athletes. Tiger Woods wanted to be the greatest golfer ever but didn’t become the GOAT without a coach, physio, PR person etc. 谷歌 ’s vision is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Both founders, Sergey and Larry, have left the organisation and Google’s mission lives on.

In most cases, these visions are loosely defined so that they can never be 100% achieved, but act as a guiding principle in everything the organisation does. So relating this to our row has been interesting. We do have a clear dated target that by 12th June 2023, we must leave the bay of Monterey and row towards Kauai. You could argue this is our tangible goal. However, our vision is still blurred. If we were completely honest as a crew, we still aren’t always rowing in the same direction (pun intended).?This is why we have been working with Floss Andrews , who is helping us develop our team's mindset.

This brings me to the long-winded point that sometimes individuals and organisations set off on a journey without a very clear vision, but the progress of moving forward starts shining the light, unearthing the vision. I don’t think Sergey and Larry in their University day’s dreamt about Google becoming one of the largest companies in the world, they simply enjoyed programming and problem solving. Having spoken to many people wanting to build organisations, sometimes I think there is a tendency to take the theory of building a vision and culture and applying it right from the beginning. In reality, a lot of this happens organically and only time sheds light to the end of the tunnel, hence you have to stay in the game.?

For our HODL crew, we are still discovering the bigger picture. The more time we spend together, the clearer it becomes, maybe the vision is to achieve the best version of ourselves.

P.S. not everything in life has to be super serious and thought out, sometimes just doing something that’s rewarding, challenging and a great laugh with friends, is enough.

This is the 3rd part of a 5 part mini-series about my experiences of building a project that allows us to row across the Pacific Ocean. We are Team HODL, a 3-person crew attempting to row across the Pacific Ocean to raise donations for The Ocean Cleanup , while setting a World Record. Check out our Instagram and Website to donate

Part 2 was about "Building an Ocean Rowing Team". Next up is part 4, "Training to Become an Ocean Rower"