Think like a champion: How Molly Picklum's WSL world title dreams came true

Molly Picklum: Right! I don't know what the goal is there, it’s almost the price of entry, once I know I've paid a little, then all of a sudden I'm really hungry. It's something I'm trying to work on, though. It would be nice to take it easy occasionally, but for some reason, I'm a creature of the hard way.

I got pretty sick in Fiji. I was down and out for seven days before the event. I was a bit worried because I didn't have any energy or strength in my muscles, and my legs were folding underneath me a little. I wish I could let myself have it easy sometimes, but then I remind myself that it's exactly how I like it, and I managed to turn it around on the day.

There's way more pressure. So much more! But you've had such a good season to get there that you’ve got the confidence to go up against it. Down the bottom, you're a lot more free and can just have a swing, but at number one, you’re like, 'This is mine! I've put on performances all year, now let’s go put on a few more!'

I watch and read the patterns in my brain, try and keep the ones that are good, and fix and help the ones that are not. I do meditation. I keep really good people around me to talk to about that sort of stuff. I just talk a lot, really.

Crowey has just taught me that everything is within yourself. You can go as hard as you want outside, but at the end of the day, if you control what you can control, which is your attitudes and things like that, it's an easier battle. For a lot of my life, I was caught up on the uncontrollables. He’s helped me to narrow my focus and control what I can, then enjoy and see the beauty in the uncontrollables.

Sometimes he is just a friend to chat to and geek out on philosophies and life and whatever, and other times he's got to be there, to draw diagrams, show me things, and let it out that way. Often it’s just a text, this is how I'm looking at life, how are you going? We're pretty flexible with our situation.

I had a pretty bad night's sleep, so I was up early, at 5am, before the light. I stretched and warmed up, then Jack (Robinson) and I went to the surf. First out there on the ski, got a couple waves and just soaked in the morning. The sun was rising, and the sky was so pretty, it was crazy. The crispiest, nicest morning. Whipped it back to Tavarua, had some Weet-Bix 'cos I was over eggs after eating the same meal here for 13 days straight. Then just sat around talking with the boys and watched the first heat.

We watched Jack, and, unfortunately, he didn't really get started. So we turned that off and fell asleep in the hammock, and then we fell outta the hammock and woke ourselves up. And then it was time to get ready. Started warming up again, limbering the body, and then I was out there. Before I knew it, I was warming up on the boat and in a rashie and taking off on shit waves.

No, but I probably should start becoming a creature of habit, just for convenience's sake. It's almost a game for me now to try and break my habits on game day. It's getting weird.

I always try to be active, though, lots of stretching and moving the body in all directions to loosen up. Always feel better for it.

I think I always want to be the best I can be, in whatever I’m doing. My natural instinct is to go hard all the time, and sometimes that can gruel me, and leave me rundown because I’ve worked myself too hard. I want to be a balanced athlete, which is hard with surfing because it’s not always structured, but I’ll always try to be as professional as I can.

Yeah, tapping into the locals and seeing how it goes. I didn't know if it would work for me or not, but it was fun to work with different people and bring in different energies. I had my work cut out to try and make a team at every single event. But I had the rocks in my team, like Fletchy (Ryan Fletcher) was there, Austin (Hendery) was there, and I knew enough that I thought I’d be sweet, so I went for it, and it was epic.

We'd been doing it for a few years. We got fourth and fifth in the world. It was going fine, I think I just wanted to free it up and see what I could do by myself. I respected him so much that I often switched off and just sat in behind him. I just wanted to pull away from that and just make it a little bit harder. You know, you gotta own your shit and just do it for yourself.

Glenn has been there since I was young. It was so good to have such a strong character to sit with, who believed in me to get after it and who tried to always keep me level-headed. I was such a rogue kid, and yet he had so many good intentions for me. I just had to listen, and I'm sure it would've been a smoother ride, but I'm a trial-by-fire kind of person, so he had his work cut out for him.

Glenn has stuck by me through so much, outside of surfing too. He’s impacted my life massively. I called him yesterday and he was frothing, said he can't wait for me to get home to show him the trophy, so he can actually see it’s real!

How funny is that? Mitch was baffled. He thought I was taking the piss when I called him up for this event, he was tripping. I just liked seeing how he worked, he seemed like he had a hell time while he was coaching Carissa (Moore) back in the day, and he had some familiarity with the Aussie plan. It was cool.

It's so funny, I used to be so scared, but then I just started to play with it. I'm no psycho, though. I pull back. I get scared. I'm no different to everyone else, I just maybe push it a little bit further. Trial by fire, that’s how we’re bred on the Central Coast.

It’s like that, except after you jump, you feel so free, because you have no control and can just enjoy the ride. Whereas surfing stays scary, because not wiping out remains under your control till the wave finishes. So, you're holding on and holding on, and it's like you're doing the jump the whole time, over and over and over again.

Caity’s one of the best surfers in the world, a really good friend of mine and just the best human. It's really cool. I really respect her and the way she wants to go about it, and she's really inspired me to do my thing and just be me. I’ve really connected with her through our years on tour, and she’s become a really good friend. Coming in on the boat (after winning the title), she was the only one genuinely stoked for me, which is crazy, and hard to do as a competitor.

There was a bit of talk about her 6-0 record against me, but that number crept up on me to be honest. I hadn't thought of it, then when it came out I was like, ‘whoa, that's crazy’. I always kinda felt I had a good swing and then just she would get the better wave, it was never that I couldn't beat her.

Oh my, that's huge. I think I’d keep my 10, because I think I have more of a chance of winning that event than potentially getting another 10. On a 10, it's up to the wave, and it's up to other people in a room, whereas winning an event is a bit more achievable. It comes around a bit more than a 10-point ride.

‘Well done. Welcome. Let's go!’ (laughs) She was just stoked for me, you know.

It’s everything, I think that's what makes it sink in. Your name goes in with them – and it's mind-boggling, it's a lot to digest. It's the coolest thing ever! I'm just so honoured, but you know what? It makes me wanna be me even more, and do it my way, ‘cos that's me.

Yeah, 100 percent. That’s the ticket, if you want to stay humble and hungry. The Central Coast, where I grew up, keeps you humble, too. People will say, ‘yeah, good job,’ but they'll still want their waves, there's no kings around here! Australia as a nation, really, we’re just like that.

I guess I never wanted it that badly. It just kind of happened. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, that's something I want to do,’ and I just kept doing it. I think I'm so consumed daily by my own battles and own growth that the wind blows me wherever, and I just wake up here. But it's definitely pretty cool that I'm now living it out.

I think it's something that's consistently there for you, no matter what. There's always a wave to be ridden. As a kid, I had a moment where I had to choose between touch football and surfing, and I think surfing was the only thing that was constantly changing enough to not make me bored. It kept me curious. It was engaging.

One-hundred percent. I think it's what I battled with heaps early on, because I hated that. But now I love it, it's the beauty of it.

I feel like the unknown's scary as a surfer, 'cos you put your career on the line every single time you enter the water. You want it to go your way, but that's scary 'cos it's the ocean. You can't really control it, you’ve gotta be one with it, and trust in the unknown. Life's scary if you don't have any hope that it's gonna be good.

Then that first dive in the water is such an amazing feeling – that's the refreshing part of our sport, and then there's connecting with something that's bigger than yourself, too, Mother Nature.

I've grown to learn surfing outside of sport. It's given me a healthy lifestyle, and I'll forever love it for that, but early on, I didn't really even know surfing was fun. It just kept me engaged, it kept changing, and it never really got boring, but now I have a more steady love of surfing. It feels like there’s a bit of a deeper meaning.

It definitely sunk in this morning when I woke up and the trophy was still in my room! It's starting to sink in a little more everytime someone introduces me like that, but I think it's going to take a while. I'm just going to enjoy it.

You believe, but it's pretty cool when it actually happens. It's very surreal, a bit like your first event win.

To go from a Central Coast kid, a little grom looking up to Steph and Layne Beachley and Sally Fitzgibbons and Tyler Wright and all those girls, it’s such a trip that I’m on a list with those females. I just feel so honoured and grateful.

To be the undisputed, undeniable champion, it’s everything I ever dreamed of. You can win one way, or you can win like I did, and it fills my heart.