“Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.”

Dory – from Finding Nemo

My mentor and business partner, Steve Siebold, recently asked me, “Imagine you are in stranded in the ocean, it’s a mile to the shore.  Are you treading water and hoping for a boat to come rescue you, or are you swimming for shore?”

What if it’s two miles to the beach? Three? Sometimes, I feel like it might as well be 10,000 miles, but I know for sure, that waiting for a boat to happen by, is as likely as me winning the Power Ball.  I know that I can’t waste one calorie of energy, or allow one thought to set up shop, that keeps me treading water and waiting for rescue. Even knowing that, there are days when I feel like the shore is soooo far away.

When this happens, my most trusted advisor and counsellor (my wife, Kim), will begin to very softly say, “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.”

Here’s the take away: The boat may, or mostly likely NOT, be coming, so head for shore and just keep swimming.  The status quo of your life is merely treading water.  Don’t delude yourself into thinking you are headed to shore, when you have no plan, no written personal vision, no set goal, no direction, no definitive action….you are simply treading water.  Ask yourself, “How long can I tread water before I’m exhausted and am swallowed up by the deep?”

Maybe I will exhaust myself on the swim to shore, but I’d rather drown trying to make it, than flail around for nothing in the same spot, hoping for a rescue that isn’t coming.  If that makes sense to you, but you are afraid to swim alone, or don’t think you can make it to land, come swim with me.  Did I mention I’m a Marine Combat Instructor of Water Survival?

Boo Yah!