In a recent post, I shared about my first open water swim race and the lessons it taught me about how to be effective at reaching my goals.
The second time around, did I learn my lesson and begin the next race differently? Yes, I did. And so did the start of the second race go perfectly? Well, not exactly.
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Practicing Professional Excellence: A blog series with simple tips and reflections for trusting ourselves, taking brave action, and creating supportive habits.
When faced with daunting or intimidating tasks, it helps to infuse our decisions and actions with supportive messages and positive intention. I mean, we talk to ourselves anyway, right? What do you think all those self-judgments, fears, and resentments are? So let's make what we say to ourselves work with us instead of against us. Sometimes open water (outside) swim races begin on land. When the horn goes off you run into the water and keep running until the water gets deep enough that it becomes more efficient to swim. That was the case the first time I competed in one. When the race began, I was so excited to be there and so invigorated by the group energy that I ran as fast as I could into the water.
“Look at me!” I thought, thrilled with the image of myself running into the Chesapeake Bay with the hundred or so other swimmers. Man, it felt great! I eagerly ran as fast and as far as possible. Finally, the water became so deep that I couldn’t make any more progress vertically. I collapsed my knees, put my head in the water, and began to swim. At which point I realized that I was totally and utterly out of breath. |