Nothing Happens ‘Till Someone Takes Action
June 30, 2010
We had our Swimming Boot Camp class on Monday this week, and it was a tough one. A 400-yard warm-up, 300 yards of the “pull buoy” (a small flotation device you put between your knees so you’re only using your arms), four 125-yard “snakes” (swimming to the other end of the pool, then going under the lane divider to swim back in the next lane – this simulates actual race conditions for a triathlon with a pool swim), eight 25-yard sprints, and then a 100-yard cool down.
I wasn’t the fastest person in the pool by any means, but I wasn’t the slowest either – and I was able to do the whole thing.
And that’s the most important thing about this story. Because, as some of you know, the first time I attempted to actually swim laps in a pool, I got to the other end of the pool, turned around, and about halfway back to the other side, I was gasping for breath. I don’t mean I had to stop for a second, I mean I was completely winded – after only 75 yards of swimming!
It certainly wasn’t a matter of fitness – I’m in pretty good shape. It wasn’t a matter of endurance – I can bike 100 miles. It was simply a matter of technique – I had to learn to swim properly.
Now visualization is a good tool, but you can’t “visualize” something and get the same results that come from deliberate and focused effort, any more than you can “visualize” a new car and one appears in your driveway without actually going out and earning the money it takes to buy the car.
The bottom line is that despite your best intentions and best-laid plans, nothing is going to happen until you take action on these plans.
Make sure you do something every day – no matter how small – that helps you achieve your goals. When it comes to achieving success, taking action really is a “sink-or-swim” decision.
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Here’s a brief story you may want to use/embellish.
I referee youth and adult soccer games. Towards the end of each game a player will ask the referee how much time is left in the game. They do this because the referee is the official time keeper and they want to know how much time is left either to score or hunker down on defense.
There are two kinds of players. One type when learning of the remaining time absorbs the information and continues to play with the additional information. The second type, when learning of the remaining amount of time, informs all his/her teammates and sets the strategy/goal for the remaining time. In my experience, there are far too many of the first type and not enough of the second type. Which one are you?