Finding Your Growth Edge.. The Last Swimmer in the Pool

Bottom line: If you want to go faster and go farther. Sometimes you need to jump in first and swim like hell. You’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish.

In all of my years of sports, my first love was swimming.

At the age of 8 or 9, the competition was fierce. Lol. Just kidding. We swam because it was great exercise, there was team spirit, it was mildly competitive, and because my mom signed me up before I told her I wanted to skip the season.

The head coach was Coach Shelia. From memory, she was a tough, disciplined, engaged, and an attentive expert coach. In other words… perfect for young athletes.

Every practice, Sheila would have us start with a progressive warm up - we jumped in and got the body warmed up with a drill that steadily increased in effort. We then progressed to the heart of practice - the real work. She was a great coach. And we had a great team.

Here’s the thing... I hated jumping in to the cold water at the start of every practice. Now that I think of it, I still do. It was uncomfortable and marked the start of a hell of a lot of work. So, strategically, I would undress slowly and take ample time to perfectly fit my goggles. This method worked well, and I would then be the last to jump in the pool and casually catch up to my teammate ahead of me. With no one behind me, I was left to kick gently and coast comfortably. I was a good swimmer with little effort - good enough to slip through practice without being noticed or called out.

Midway through the season... Shelia got my ass.
Shelia noticed my potential... which wasn’t being touched. The next practice, Sheila made me lead the group. “SHIT, now I gotta push it”, my 4th grade brain thought (I probably wasn’t swearing yet, but we’re going to take a creative license here). For the remainder of the year, I was instructed to lead the group. That meant the first in the pool and the pace setter for the rest of the team.

It sucked. It was hard work. And I hated Sheila for it.

But it also worked. I got better. I finished that season as one of the fastest swimmers on the team and one of three that represented our team at the regional level. When forced to elevate, I responded.

There are two lessons here:

1. Jump the f*** in. It’s ‘bout to be cold and slightly uncomfortable no matter how slow and unnecessary your preparation is.

2. Putting yourself first holds you accountable. It pushes you. And it will immediately force you to level up your game.

I reflect on this story often. And when I feel overwhelmed, as though the world is demanding more of me than I care to give... I know it’s a call forth to untapped potential. It’s a challenge to find my next gear.