Ikigai, kaizen and the surfboard I didn't buy

Around three years ago my wife said she was thinking about doing a half marathon. Her company was organising a very important race in our city, and she had too many friends to chicken out — but she had never run. I had played football since I was a kid, so for me it was no problem. I'll help you, let's train together! We can totally do it! Long story short: next month we go to Rome for our third race together.

What I didn't realise is the incredible amount of free thinking time you have when you're running. So I started listening to music and podcasts on the way. I came across an old song I never paid much attention to as a kid, and now it had a new meaning I could relate to: Iron Maiden's "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner". The story behind it makes a lot of sense, especially once you're past the runner's high.

Running is great, but it's not what surfing asks of you. It builds your aerobic base, which helps in long sessions, but in the water you need upper-body mobility, strength and stamina, and running doesn't help much there.

The surfboard

So I started thinking. And the question was real: do I really need that new surfboard everyone is talking about? The answer was a clear yes! (Deep down, I still think so ;))

The problem is that we live in a flat, and it would have to stand upright in my wife's office. For me that's easy: out of sight, out of mind. But somehow she disagreed, as it would almost block her work screens. There had to be a smarter way to answer this.

So I asked different AI models, and most of them said the board was great and I should totally buy it.

Then I gave an AI my real data: the Mallorca forecast, my limited free days on the island, and my quiver and level from my old Google Form. This time the answer was no, I don't need that surfboard. I should be fine with a hole in my quiver, because I had already tailored my longboards for the best (and worst) conditions the Mediterranean has to offer. And I even have a shortboard to spice things up if I want to.

"I should be fine with a hole in my quiver."

Kaizen: the old Google Form

In CRM class we sometimes use a Japanese word, kaizen: constant improvement, a bit better every day. Not a big change once a year, but one small thing, noticed and improved, every time.

So I decided to give it a try with that old Google Form I used as a surf log. It had grown far too complicated and, though good, it was almost impossible to use on a phone. My wife was working on some AI projects at the time, and after talking it through with her, I decided to give it a shot. That is also how OceanLog works: you notice one small thing in each session, and you remember it next time.

Ikigai, found near Düsseldorf

There is another Japanese word I first came across during COVID, while I wasn't flying. It didn't mean much then. This time it did. Ikigai: the thing that sits where what you are good at, what you enjoy, and what is actually useful to other people all overlap.

For years I struggled to name my ikigai. I found it running near Düsseldorf airport, along the river, on a very long and slow run.

I know logbooks. I like this. And I think it can be genuinely useful to people who currently have nothing like it.

So I gave it a try in my spare time, between flying and running. So far it's 700 hours and counting, and I actually like it a lot.

What surprises me most is that when I show it to my friends, they don't have a tool like this for their sports (bodyboard, bodysurf). Now we are helping a disability sport foundation in Catalonia (rowing, swimming), I'm looking forward to helping another one in Mallorca, and I have a few other surprises lined up as well.

This is mine. I have had a good life and a lot of luck in it, and this is some of that going back out. I built a tool for myself, it worked, and it seems a waste not to hand it to everyone else who is standing on the same beach with the same problem. I'm working on it slowly.

Rome, and then Barcelona

I won't win in Rome. Hopefully I'll train with my wife for her full marathon in Barcelona. In the meantime, I'll keep thinking about how to improve this, so it can help as many people as possible, whatever their starting point and goals.