This Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

A not-so-gentle reminder that every bold venture has its ‘what was I thinking?’ moment  

With some trepidation you strip down to the basics and attach the required ankle tracker. You have made a foolhardy(?) decision to go ahead with the venture. Physically you are committed. Mentally – not so sure. You shuffle forward to the end of the dock. The man says, “The timer starts when you step on the mat”.  

This is it.   

You jump. 

It’s only a metre drop but you go right under. You swim to the surface, realign with your route and start swimming. No going back now! 

The first 200 metres is hard. Your mind is asking,  ‘What the ‘heck’ are you doing?’      ‘You’ve never done this before’,    ‘This is really, really different – danger!’  Your muscles are starting to complain - everything is saying “quit now”. 

And then, you find a rhythm. You fall back on your training, on your plan, on your self-confidence. You pass the one-kilometre mark – ‘not so bad after all’. You get to the 2-kilometre mark  - ‘I just might make it’.  

And then the fatigue really hits. You are going through the motions. Your arms start to flop rather than pull. You have trouble keeping on track. You are trying to remember why you decided to do this. You are close – only 500 metres to go. You can actually see the finish line.  

You hit the gulf of despair. 

Most new projects follow the same steps. Great start based on good research and planning followed by an enthusiastic kick off. Then come the course corrections and the long push towards success.  At some point self-doubt, fatigue (or even boredom) seep in. Most projects will fail here in this gulf of despair. 

To avoid this, make sure you do good research, develop an actionable and flexible plan, and when you hit that gulf, remind yourself what the original objectives were, how your life, your business, your reality will be better. And if you can’t remind yourself, pull in coaches and advisors to help.  

The annual Bring on the Bay swim raises money for Easter Seals and attracted 1000 other crazy people. This was my first open water competition. I was so pleased to have actually completed it. It ‘only’ took me one hour, ten minutes and 22 seconds and as a really unexpected  bonus – I came 2nd in my age group😊 . 

I took this on to prove to myself that I was unafraid to take on new challenges, to force myself to stay in shape and keep my mind open to all sorts of new possibilities. And so, I kept pulling. And pulling. And pulling until I completed the full 3 kilometres.    

Let me know if you’d like to swim with me next year!   Of course I’m doing it again. 

And if you need a coach to help get you through the gulf of despair – I have experience that would be useful. 

Hope the rest of your summer goes swimmingly. 

Andrew