I don’t know how to swim.
When I was a child, I had all kinds of problems with my ears. Tubes, surgery, ear infections and the doctors always said, “You can’t get water in your ears!” which meant, you don’t get to learn how to swim.
My Mom doesn’t know how to swim either. I remember going to the beach and as soon as the water reached my knees she would be yelling at me to come back so nothing would happen to me. She passed on her fear of the water to me.
A few years ago I signed up for swimming lessons. When I mustered up my courage to show up, the instructor ended up failing me three times. I took it as a sign that I was not meant to learn.
You might have noticed, I spend a lot of time on the water here in Florida, on our boat. This is risky business.
I have a life jacket and a husband who can swim but there is still a part of me that looks at that dark, deep blue water and feels butterflies in my belly.
When I go home to Ottawa in April, I will start swimming lessons. One of the members of The Pilot Project owns The Aqua Life Swim Academy and Stephanie, the owner, is going to teach me how to swim.
The very thought of this makes me uncomfortable.
I know from past experience that this will not be easy. I can float, but moving from floating to sitting is a maneuver that eludes me and causes me to splash and gasp and lose control.
You might be wondering why I am sharing this?
I am sharing because swimming is a skill. It is something that can be taught and can be learned if you stick with it and do the work.
Are you staring at the water, knowing you need to learn about numbers, selling, operations, social media or are you jumping in with the willingness to be COMPLETELY uncomfortable and learn?
I am going to get wet and I am going to struggle. I am going to fight and not enjoy learning how to do something that I am not good at. It is going to be hard and frustrating and I am going to fail the first time I try to do a lot of things.
It’s going to be scary to put my head under water.
It’s going to be scary to give up the floaties.
I am going to demonstrate ultimate vulnerability because learning how to swim could be a life or death situation for me.
What about you? Are there life or death skills you need to learn in your business?
As I celebrate another year of life I have decided to take on this big monster and learn. Will you join me and take on something that makes you uncomfortable too?
I have two things for you today.
1. A video with the five most important books I have ever read. These can help you learn something new – guaranteed.
2. A brand new webinar on March 19th where I am going to teach you some strategies about running your business that might help you face your fears too.
I challenge you to…
a) Sign up for this webinar and
b) Read one of the books in my video before March 19th.
If you are in, please leave a comment below. And don’t worry, I plan to share my swimming progress. I can’t back out now, I’ve told you my scary little secret.
4 thoughts on “You Are Never Too Old to Learn”
Lisa – my birthday is also in March – I reach 3/4 of a century. I like Ottawa – have relatives who live there. I relate to your story – have had to overcome similar fears relative to clostrophobia – try getting a brain scan for the first time with a mask over your face. Swimming brought a similar fear due to someone holding me underwater as a 10 yr old and a water skiing accident as an adult which kindof undid all the work on my fear of water! There is a wonderful tool that might help you – it is called, I think, Aqua Belt. You can put it around your waist and sit in the water, swim, run and dance in the water. It is not like a life jacket or usual flotation device at all. They are neat to use even when you know how to swim, especially in salt water. The Belt was originally designed to help horses who had leg injuries. They were suspended in a pool and could use their legs to swim without having to put any weight on the injured leg. Eventually they were redesigned for athletes who had injuries. Using the belts allowed them to run and recover, again without having to put weight on the injury. I am not a good swimmer – my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are ! Fear – I learned a way to first lasso it and then let it go. Would be happy to share sometime. I still do not like MRI scans or being in closed places, but each time I am able to call on the skills I learned – one main one is prayer, another is to practice what it is I would like to be able to do and vision myself through it – for ;you taking it all the way through the end of the lesson and getting out of the water safe and sound – as if you are in the film you created. The mind creates the fear, the mind overcomes the fear and lets it go. Took me a bit, but now I can fly, swim, and tackle about anything. Fear does not stop me, I do. I wish you every success with your swimming – you can do this !
Perhaps you can teach this old dog some simple skills with media – what to use, how to use it so that I can get my product out there. With all the ear problems you had as a child, you might even have a sensitivity to gluten or even Celiac Disease. I have that and my business has a simple solution for anyone who has to follow a GF diet. The word needs to get out there. I would be happy to send you some. We have lots of folks in Canada who know the product well. Canadian customers are actually responsible for me starting my rice flour business. They came to the World Symposium on Celiac Disease near Baltimore in 2000, and asked me to please get my products out on the market. They are still asking how they can get it. I am looking for a partner to run the business with me ….
God’s Peace May you love joining the fish – they are beautiful in the Carribean waters. You can also get to hug a dolphin.
Hi Lisa
I just finished $100 Start-up. I am a very practical person and this book is full of examples of how to start a business LEAN. Great tips for anyone starting a business without a lot of money. Also full of real life examples not just fluff.
I too love to read and would love to do nothing else!
~Corina
Thanks for sharing Corina!
Loved the resources and have these in my library. You gave me the encouragement to get them read.
I have read Good to Great and agree it is a great resource to building your business.
Lisa Nichols book – No Matter What is a valued motivator to get out there and take action, regardless of your circumstance.