I walked out of the locker room and glanced down at my phone. Dang! That was a pretty solid swim workout. I am not a very quick swimmer to begin with and having a fresh elbow surgery sure isn’t helping the situation. Truth is, I only swim so I can get to my bike in Ironman, but I have to swim fast enough to make the cutoff. I had only swam 1000 yards but it was the fastest I had swam in a long time.
Having an analytical mind I started to break down the possibilities of why my times were so quick tonight. Looking back through my workouts I think I found the pattern and it makes perfect sense.
I was a little late getting to the pool and it seemed like when I was late my times were better. At first glance it seemed like maybe I was in a hurry and that made me swim with a greater purpose because of a deadline. That couldn’t be it though. I purposely swim when I am not overcommitted for the day because of the time investment it takes.
Halfway home it hit me, mostly because of my sore shoulders. I worked really hard because of the swimmers in the lane on either side of me. When I am a bit early to the pool there are not many swimmers in the pool. Sometimes there are a few “Silver Swimmers” doing the leisurely backstroke as they enjoy the water. Today I had very talented swimmers in the lanes next to me. They weren’t crazy fast but a bit faster than me. They were just fast enough for me to “chase”. Having strong swimmers in both lanes meant that there was always someone just ahead of me or just behind me catching up.
"The fastest way to experience success, is to surround yourself with people that are where you want to be."
Funny how that works, isn’t it? I have seen this pattern so many times in my life. My fastest times in running or cycling come from training with a group that is faster than me or in a race where there are other athletes competing close by. This concept translates to almost any area of life. We all kind of know it and it’s a principle that most of us were raised on but I don’t think we realize how powerful it is. Or maybe it’s just more comfortable to be around people that don’t push us to be our best.
At the end of the day, I think that one of the easiest and fastest ways to experience success in any aspect of life is to surround yourself with people that are where you want to be. That’s not to say that we should ignore everyone that is a bit behind us on our journey. But if you want to get better at eating healthfully, put yourself around healthy eaters, if you are looking for financial success, spend time with wealthy people, and if you are looking for a great relationship, find people that have a healthy
relationship and get to know them.
We live in a world that the social media gurus giving us advice on marrige are 23 and have been married for less than a year. The twenty-something kid that weighs 130 lbs is giving us weight loss advice, and the bankrupt influencer is giving us financial investing advice. Make sure you are putting yourself around authentic people that are where you want to be.
My mom used to tell me that friends do one of two things, they build you up or tear you down. Choose your friends wisely.
Until next time,
Tim
