Misty Hyman and Michael Phelps Butterfly

Misty Hyman will be at the Lander on November 30th!

I met Misty during our years of swimming in Arizona when she was graciously swimming in local meets as an Ambassador for USA swimming.  She is known for her beautiful butterfly, pioneering the underwater dolphin kick (I have video showing her kicking to the 15m mark on every length and taking just 4 strokes to every wall).  She has inspired swimmers for the last 13  years at least, since she won Olympic gold in the 200 butterfly at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.  She makes it look easy, but we know, of course, there are many  many hours of practice behind her achievement.
For good measure, I've posted a short video of Michael Phelp's butterfuly.  Notice that he gets to the same chest press down, arms up over the head position, and that he has a beautiful monster underwater dolphin kick.
Watch, learn, take the opportunity to meet Misty and be inspired to fly!

Focus. The One Thing.

The One Thing

What is the one most important thing you want to accomplish today?

Find it too difficult to immediately pin it down to ONE single thing?

OK, make a short list.  Then look at the list and pick the top 3 most important.  Then of those 3, make yourself choose one.  

And do that one thing!  So that at the end of the day, you'll feel satisfied and happy that you achieved that.  

If you have time in your day, pick the next important one thing, and do that.  If the day's over, start again tomorrow with the same process.

You can bring this intention and focus to everything you do.

What's the most important one thing I want to make sure happens in this phone call?

In this meeting?  On this vacation?  During this swim practice?

What is the one thing I need to do now to make my dream happen?

and maybe.... What is the one thing I need to STOP doing now?

Gary Keller wrote The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, a book about radical prioritizing and simplifying to focus on the most important thing to do right now.  Then, after that one thing is done, what is the next important thing to do?  Sequentially, with clarity, like a line of dominos, accomplishing bigger and bigger things as you go on.  Instead of multitasking, FOCUS on one thing at a time instead.   

We all have so many things to do on our to-do lists.  We applaud the person who seems to do many things at the same time, the supreme multi-tasker, who seems so productive.  Actually, that person is a juggler, doing one thing for a little while, then switching to another thing for a little while, then another, and the switching is very inefficient and distracting.  Decide what is most important to do.  Concentrate, focus, do it, finish it.  Then decide what is most important to do next  Not only do you complete more tasks, but you've started with the most important tasks, and because you've approached your task with clear intention and focus, you will be happier and more satisfied, rather than just doing whatever thing randomly attracted your attention first.

"If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one."  (Russian proverb)

What does this idea have to do about swimming?  This is about pursuing excellence, living a life of purpose,  being productive, effective, efficient, happy.   Swimming is not just about swimming.  Pursuing excellence in swimming is like pursuing excellence in life.... conscious effort done with clear intention and focus brings satisfaction.  This blog is about pursuing excellence, just as the mission of the swim club says "to empower athletes of all ages to grow and achieve their personal best through excellence in swimming".