The visualization stuff got really big for me, but it was never like visualizing what I was doing or how I was surfing.

It was more visualizing how I was feeling.

I would visualize how I felt walking down to the water, how I felt right before the horn went off.

And after practicing it over and over again in my head, it just allowed me space and

allowed me to surf how I want to surf.

John John Florence is one of the most talented surfers of all time. After 15 years on the

World Surf League Championship tour, three world titles, and two Olympic appearances.

John John recently surprised the surf world when he stepped away from competition.

Instead, he decided to pursue a massive wild idea to sail around the world with his family.

I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an RIE Co-op Studios production

presented by Capital One and the REI Co-Op MasterCard.

I was lucky enough to talk with John John last summer at Outside Days in Denver, Colorado.

This time when we spoke, John was at home in Hawaii.

He grew up nearby in the north shore of Oahu and rode his first wave at just three years

old.

In 2011, when he was 19, John John officially joined the WSL tour.

At first, he wasn't solely focused on competition, but in 2015, he decided to lock in and go after a

world championship. John, John Florence, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. It's really good to talk to

you again. It was so fun to chat with you at the Outside Fest. And now we're back. I love it.

Yeah. Excited to be back. Thanks for having me. So I talked to one of your close friends who said, Shelby, you know, if you asked John John in 2015 what his goal was, it was to win the world title. He got rid of everything else and like laser focused to do this. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, I think 2015 was definitely the year of like, I'm on the tour.

I would love to win a world title. That's kind of like, since I was a little kid,

seems like it's been like a goal of mine. I'm going to like put everything into winning now.

...