3 things to tell you “about” to best understand this site.

1^st, about Mike.

Linked-in highlights my 25 years of experience in Silicon Valley as a sales & marketing professional for ROLM, IBM, Siemens, Sun Microsystems, and Oracle Corporation. Upon leaving Oracle in 2017 I took a 1-year sabbatical to become a certified New Ventures West Integral Coach® and moved to Trader Joe’s for the final chapter of my career. I have a beautiful wife of 30 years and two wonderful children. Here’s my resume.

My goal is to offer help, encouragement, and coaching to those who struggle to keep it all afloat in this valley of endless opportunity. I have a passion for helping people tackle the work/life integration challenges and do professional development coaching across a wide range of topics.

I launched “Surfing for Balance in Silicon Valley” in 2014 to blog about my drive to stay afloat in the valley of endless work. That blog eventually led me to writing a book, “Surfing in Heaven”, to consolidate my experiences through it all.

2nd, about my book: Surfing in Heaven.

Surfing in Heaven is an upcoming book (2022) that is my story as a surfer finding work/life balance in Silicon Valley by learning to put Heaven first.

The term “Surfing in Heaven” is both a metaphor and a vision for how I invest my time and energy each day. Jesus said it well when he spoke about storing up treasures in heaven rather than investing in what we have here on earth (Matthew 6:19-21). By starting each day with my eternal future in mind, I found myself able to navigate the many work/life balance challenges I face. Heaven is a game changer! As the waves keep coming with increasingly shortened intervals, I have gained a radically new perspective. It is like going back to the 1960s and surfing without a leash. My life is untethered from earthly expectations. I have peace of mind about laying the groundwork each day for my life to come in Heaven.

3rd, about this cover picture.

The picture on the cover of surfingforbalance.com is the only picture I have of my dad, Jack B Mulkey, surfing. It was taken at Malibu circa 1949 by Doc Ball. Doc was an early pioneer in surfing photography and was was one of the leaders in establishing surfing on the west coast. He helped organize the Palos Verdes Surf Club, where dad often surfed in the late 40s and early 50s. Here is the original photo:

Dad is riding a 10’9″ Bob Simmons Plywood Foam surfboard (called a “Foam Sandwich”). This surfboard was a major breakthrough from the Redwood Planks they had been riding, which could weigh in over 100 pounds.  An exact replica of this surfboard sold for $40,000 at the Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction in 2009.  Dad did not even know this picture was taken but ran across it in a photo album at a party at Doc Ball’s house. As he told me the story, a friend yelled out to him, “Hey Mulkey, check this out, your picture is in here!”.

More on that era at Malibu and “The Greatest Generation”.
Mark Brown Digital Arts did the wonderful recoloring work.

Dad was living out his dream at 89 years young in Kailua-Kona on the big island of Hawaii when he passed away peacefully in his sleep, after spending a delightful Father’s Day with his daughter Terry (see Kona Jack). This website is dedicated to dad for all the wonderful lessons in life I learned from him through the sport of surfing.

Dad and grandson Matthew in front of a Douglas SBD Dauntless aircraft at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor in 2014 (Dad flew in the gunner position off the USS Saratoga in WWII).