Are You Doing Your Best?

I recently got back from a great work out at the Y.M.C.A.. But, this time was different than all the other times. Instead of going with my family, I went alone with a set goal for myself. This morning, I wanted to see if I could swim a mile, like I did back when I was in college. I have not attempted to swim this distance nonstop for almost twenty years. When I completed my life guard training in college, I was required to finish the mile swim in under forty minutes. So my goal today was not to meet that requirement, yet just to see if I could still swim a mile without stopping.

When I got into the pool, there was another class going one. It had one lifeguard teaching two children to swim using floating devices, and rubber ducks. Before I began my laps, I asked the main lifeguard on duty, “How many laps is a mile?” He answered, “thirty-six full laps.” I told him my goal and then asked if he would help count my laps for me while I swam. He accepted since nobody else was in the pool that needed his attention.

After my stretches, I saw all thirty-six laps in front of me with so much excitement and jumped in. I began to swim back and forth and counted along the way. At lap ten I yelled out, “Ten.” He answered, “Don’t worry about counting the laps, I’ll count for you.”

I counted to lap eighteen and said, “half-way.” He again said, “you are counting ahead of yourself, just focus on doing the best you can do.”

At this time, my body was starting to hurt and I was ready to quit. My excitement to swim a mile was gone, and I didn’t care about the goal I first set when I walked in. Just then I noticed one of two little children who was learning to swim. He was trying to swim after a little duck that was in the middle of the pool. He would swim half way, and his body would give out, but not his determination. He yelled out, “Again.” The lifeguard put him back to the edge of the pull and he tried again. While I was swimming, I noticed him do this at least six or seven times, and each time fail reaching the duck. Yet instead of wanting to quit like I did because my body hurt, he tried again, giving his best. This child inspired me to keep swimming.

I again look at the clock and notice that over an hour and twenty minutes had passed. I asked the lifeguard, “have I swam a mile yet?” He responded, “just keep swimming and I tell you when to stop.”

Probably fifteen or twenty minutes later, I finally stop swimming and told him that I was sorry but my body had no more. I had to get out of the pool and take a break. I was still curious how close to my goal I was. He laughingly said, “You reached you goal over ten minutes ago.” I than asked, “So how many laps did I swim?” The lifeguard laughed and answered, “I stopped counting after you reached your mile goal.”

This distance may no be big to some people reading this, yet the meaning I learned from this experience was great. This experience reminded me of a scene from the movie “Facing the Giants”. When I was focused on where I was in comparison to my goal, I wasn’t giving it my best. Yet, when I temporarily took my focus off the goal and placed it onto my actions, my results surpassed my goal.

This is the Death Crawl scene from Facing the Giants. An amazing inspiration and always worth another viewing.

If you have a Dream, are you really giving it your best? Sometimes you need help of others like in the video above to coach you, CLICK HERE

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