“To be good at something requires talent, vision, and action. Greatness is what remains when that talent and vision meet adversity-and persist in the face of it.” -Lewis Howes

I had to remind myself of the quote above the other day when I started my masters swim class at Lifetime fitness. Yes, I signed up to get coaching on my swimming because I found out the other day when I got in the pool all by myself that I was in need of a lot of help. Swimming freestyle laps in a pool or open water require a whole different set of muscles, conditioning and stamina. All of which I did not have. The class is only an hour long and meets three times a week at 5:30 am. I thought to myself I can knock this out.

My coach had planned on me swimming 1500 yards. That is roughly 30 laps in a 25 meter pool. I got this right? Wrong! I was able to do one, yes, one…1…lap in the pool. It was defeating to say the least. Here I am all signed up for a IM 70.3 and I cannot swim, at least not like I thought I could.

Then in to the room walks my head. It says to me “look Nathan you cannot do this. You need to be able to swim from one end to the other 77.25 times and you can barley do one! You just completed 20 minutes of an hour long class! You should just save yourself the embarrassment.”

What I had to do was separate out these thoughts or that devil on my shoulder if you will. Often getting started is the hardest part of doing anything new or that you have not done before. I need and had to overcome all these fears and anxieties of looking weak and incapable.

The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was fond of reminding himself that “the impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Ryan Holiday also writes, there is “one thing that all great men and women have in common. Like oxygen to a fire, obstacles became fuel for that which is their ambition. Nothing could stop them, they were (and continue to be) impossible to discourage or contain. every impediment served to make the inferno within them burn with greater ferocity.”

I kept thinking about Lewis’s book and remembered a quote which said “what stands in the way becomes the way.” This is truly what I needed to remember. Yes, swimming is standing in my way but it will become my way! I had to remember just two months ago I could barely run a mile under 12 minutes and now I can click off 5 miles at a 9 minute pace. Did I give up then? Of course not. I faced that obstacle and I have continually improved each week. The same must be applied to my swimming. Yes it will be tough and having to go to a swim class 3 times a week and be up at 4:55 in the morning to get to the class on time is not ideal but I will do what is necessary to overcome this obstacle.

Someone in my first class said if this was easy, referring to the Ironman, then everyone would do it! I have created a vision as to what I want to become and I will not let the adversity get in my way. I will win and overcome. I will fuel my inferno!

Until next time! Please share my blog!

Best,

N~