How the Journey and Challenges of 7 Times World Champion Layne Beachley Inspires Sophie, and Will Inspire You | #006

Layne Beachley 

Layne Beachley is regarded as the most successful female surfer in history. Layne’s dedication to success saw her as the only surfer, male or female, to claim six consecutive world titles between 1998 and 2003. Layne went on to win a 7th world title in 2006 before retiring from the ASP World Tour in 2008. In retirement, Layne spends her time travelling nationally and internationally as a motivational Keynote speaker for some of the world’s top commercial firms, sharing her stories about sustaining success, overcoming challenge and maintaining a winning mindset. She is also a trainer and facilitator of a series of workshops, igniting potential in everyone she works with. Layne is also the Founder and Director of her own foundation, Aim For The Stars, Chairperson of Surfing Australia and an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Layne’s Highlights

1:51 Lack of self-confidence and self-doubt

6:18 Bitter or better 

6:45 3 barriers: Fear of letting ppl down, scarcity mentality, and expectations

7:35 Congruent with who you are 

9:10 Tips to moving on from self-doubt

13:05 Meditation

15:30 Tips for building a formula of success

18:30 Success doesn’t define you

19:45 Positive outlook 

22:30 Goal setting 

29:30 Dealing with Disappointment

32:20 How to move past fear

38:45 Neuro-linguistic programming

42:30 What surfing gives Layne 

47:11 How she overcame victim mentality

51:40 Advice that she would give a young Layne Beachly

54:40 Triple E reset

Lack of self-confidence and self-doubt

Layne refers to it as ‘comparison-itis’, when you are comparing yourself to everyone. To overcome it with ‘enoughness’, when you need to believe that you are enough.

She says that she was fortunate that her dad let her have the freedom to fail and the safety to fail.

By detaching from the fear of letting people down or letting go of the expectation you can be in the moment; to do this you need to shine a light on it, accept it and move through the challenge. 

Bitter or better  

The challenge is to have stepping-stones to promote you forward and to have the patience and the trust to do so.  

3 barriers: Fear of letting people down, the scarcity mentality, and the expectations

To overcome these three challenges, Layne says that you need to accept, be congruent with who you are and surround yourself with people that elevate you.

Congruent with who you are 

Being congruent with who you are is about being true to yourself and being proud of yourself.  

This makes life more effortless. 

Layne refers to a quote “Why fit in when you were born to stand out”.

Tips to moving on from self-doubt

Layne says that it is a normal part of life and it is 100% okay. 

The biggest mistake she says that you can make is that you stay there for a little bit too long and it starts to define you. 

To overcome this, she says that the key is to own it, and ask yourself why are you doubting yourself and how is it affecting you; then ask yourself what action can you take to overcome it.  

Online academy coming soon: https://www.laynebeachley.com/ 

Meditation

With 50-70k thoughts per day mediation has helped Layne slow the ‘monkey mind’ down and shift her thoughts into the present and to have ‘space’ between thoughts; she recommends finding what activity enables you to do this; this could be meditating, deep breathing or even surfing. 

Tips for building a formula of success

First 6 world titles were part of her identity that she defined herself by and she struggled to find balance. 

Hobbies were the key to finding her own balance; it gave her time to reconnect and for her this was initially surfing and then beyond this it is now also painting, drawing, and bush walking. 

It refreshes her and gives her time to recharge and also builds resilience so that roller coasters change into speed bumps.

Success doesn’t define you

Layne now doesn’t let her success define her but instead her self-worth. It is about finding your inspiration and passion. 

Positive outlook – does it come naturally? 

Layne believes that we are all born with a positive/ optimistic outlook but it is then our tribe that effects our vibe. 

Goal setting 

Layne shares that she was a big goal setter from a young age and now she has transitioned to standards.

When she was a teenager she wasn’t doing the work to achieve those goals. She is a big fan of goals as they keep on you on track but as an adult she finds that goals can sometimes limit your flexibility. 

Dealing with Disappointment

Detaching from the outcome and loving the process. 

You control your personal choice and accountability; it empowers you and elevates you to the outcome.

Reference: Brene Brown, https://brenebrown.com/

How to move past fear 

Layne says that she loves and dislikes fear; when you are in a state of fear you are incredibility focused. To overcome fear, you first have to recognise it and find out what do you need to do to get yourself in a safe space.  

She believes that fear is a good thing as it stops you from getting too far in front of yourself and keeps you in the moment .e.g. developing an exit strategy or distracting yourself 

Reference: The Fear Bubble: Harness Fear and Live without Limits by Ant Middleton 

Neuro-linguistic programming 

NLP re-wires the way you that you think and enables you to gain clarity and perspective as well as create clear actions.

You can use it to ‘flip it’ – recognise when you are feeling negative and flip it to a more present moment where you can visualise the outcome, then detach yourself from it and instead commit to the process that is going to get you there.

What surfing gives Layne 

Surfing is calming, connecting, centring and nurturing; where she feels a true sense of freedom that she is drawn to.  

How she overcame victim mentality

Instead of falling into the victim mentality, Layne flips it to a champion mentality – ‘Why is this happening for me?‘

Viewing it this way enables her to make the choices everyday easier. 

Advice that she would give a young Layne Beachly

You are loved and you are enough and deserving of it; it all starts with the love of yourself.

The Triple E reset

During COVID, Layne has used the opportunity to reset her Energy, Economy and Environment.