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A thought that’s been running in my mind heavily this year is the true belief that every day is a new day in which you can reinvent yourself.
I recently turned 29 and in my span of the past 10 years I’ve driven commercial ships around the world, saluted fellow officers in the military, written newsletters till my eyes bleed, worked at fast paced startups, sold my own startup, ran my own social media agency, started another startup, just to name a few endeavors.
Ultimately, this trajectory doesn’t make much sense - how could someone who was driving ships now run a SAAS content strategy platform? (more on that soon)
Well there’s no better example of how you can reinvent yourself than the story of one of the greatest living singer-songwriters of our generation: Jack Johnson
Before writing some of the most iconic folk love songs to grace this earth (Banana Pancakes, Better Together, and countless others) Jack Johnson was an up and coming world class surfer on the North Shore of Hawaii.
Jack surfed alongside the likes of Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, and other future legendary surfers in world class events. For example, here’s footage of him surfing at 17 in the 1992 Pipeline Hawaiian Trials that you can watch here.
There seemed to be no question where his life trajectory was going until one wave changed his life.
While surfing a wave at Pipeline he dove off his board on a wave head first into a coral reef that resulted in knocking out several teeth, busting open his lip, and putting a gash in his forehead. The near death experience required over 150 stitches in his forehead and face. Below is an interview of young Kelly Slater and Jack several months after the injury. Jack even recalled “it felt like diving head first into cement”.
The following months after the incident Jack wasn’t able to surf and his mother got him books to teach himself how to play guitar - this single moment his life would change forever. His dream of being a world class professional surfer seemed to be fading but he had no idea what was around the corner.
Ultimately his competitive surfing career came to a close and he enrolled at University of California Santa Barbara where he studied film. He went on to direct his own surf films and was often seen surfing in them as well.
After completing one of his first films titled “The September Sessions” he ran into another obstacle: he didn’t get the rights for the last song.
Jack frequently wrote songs on the surf trips and even though he felt uncomfortable putting his own song in his film he was pushed by his friends and fellow surfers to include the future massive hit “F-Stop Blues” in that vacant spot.
See video of the song below.
Before you know it, Jack’s musical career exploded. 9 albums later, countless hits, a full soundtrack for a blockbuster movie (Curious George) - Jack still tours today and is beloved by millions of fans around the world.
“Just around the corner”
The key principle: every door closed opens another.
Often times when I face extreme adversity I repeat to myself “something really good is just around the corner”.
Every day a door can close on you whether it’s your job, relationship, or even life pursuit. What’s hard to see is just around the corner a new door just opened.
This new door will likely take a whole knew level of courage and ultimately require changing in some regard.
So even in the face of an obstacle (or in Jack’s case a head of coral), never forget that every day is a new day you can reinvent yourself.
- Gannon
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That’s it for today. Hopefully, you enjoyed today’s newsletter. If you think this would help a friend don’t be shy and share!
Disclaimer: Gannon’s Newsletter does NOT provide financial advice. All content is for informational purposes only. Gannon is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer. Trading any asset is extremely risky and could result in significant capital losses.