Navigating open waters
—yes, this is about business, too
Here’s the thing with open water swimming: it's open, and it's water. A joke I’ve grown fond of goes something like: swimming is the only sport that you either “do”, or you die. Okay drowning certainly isn’t a joke, but you get the point - swimming is sort of serious. It’s no wonder some people go their whole lives never learning to swim (an idea quite foreign to me). I’ve always landed on the other end of the spectrum, feeling quite at home in the water. In fact, I tend to enjoy being in water the rougher it is - I know, call me crazy. Something about being in rough waters is calming to me. You have to learn to go with the flow, let nature take you where it wants you to go, and be opportunistic when it pushes you in an advantageous direction. Here are a few quick tips on hitting the open water:
1. Jump in.
This one’s true on so many levels. When I was swimming in high school in Florida, we would spend all year swimming outside. That meant beautiful, tan bodies in the summer, and inordinately cold, wet winters. I distinctly remember driving to practice on cold mornings telling myself, “I’m just going to change in the locker room, and run and jump in today. No ‘waiting for the water to warm up’, it’s too cold for that.” Yet, every cold morning, I’d spend too-many-minutes on the side of the pool deck freezing my toes off because the water “looked cold”. I assure you, the 76 degree water was a lot warmer than the 25 degree air outside. When I “just jumped in”, my point was proven and, as the saying goes, the water really is warm.
The point is this: you don’t know until you start. As in business, very little happens from the side of the pool deck. If you want to swim, you gotta get in the water. Even if you’re a bad swimmer, or just learning to keep your head above water, no matter how far you dip those toes in, you’re still not swimming. I’ve become a strong, confident, and sometimes fast swimmer, by spending lots of time getting wet, and putting in my time in the water. Business is the same way. If you want to get in and try something new, you gotta get out and do it. Just jump in.
2. Relax, don’t do it (panic, that is)
Sorry about that, every time I start a sentence with the word “relax”, I can’t help but finish it with “don’t do it” (thanks, Frankie Goes to Hollywood). Why is it that whenever a character in a movie is panicking, the other characters’ immediate response is always to yell “Relax!”? I mean, it mustn’t be easy to relax when you feel like gravity is pulling you into the depths of oxygen deprivation, right? Well, while that might be true, I also got told to relax a fair bit in my swimming days, despite being a strong swimmer from the get-go. You see, in order to float properly, your body has to end up in the right position in the water, which, as you might expect, is easiest to be found while…you guessed it…relaxing. Trying to swim in a horizontal direction, while your body is mostly vertical doesn’t work too well. So, when I was dragging my legs through the water and my hips were dropped so low I looked like a tug boat, my coach would constantly yell, “Relax!”, from the side of the pool deck. You have to be in the right position to be efficient in the water.
Similarly, if you panic in business, you’re probably doing something wrong. Take a step back, slow down, and relax. Have you slowed down and assessed the situation properly? Are you positioned for success? If you panic, and act too quickly, you’re liable to make a mistake, or end up working harder than necessary for the same outcome - or worse, the wrong outcome. Relax, take it all in, and put yourself in the most efficient position for where you’re heading.
3. Go with the flow.
You ever tried to swim through a whirlpool? You bet you haven’t. Well, neither have I (I’m not even all that convinced that they exist but that’s beside the point). Okay let’s be more realistic, how about a rip current? You know, those terrifyingly deadly things they warn you about on the weather channel every day during the summer? Those are real, for real. Ask any surfer, they know them better than anyone. Most people by now know what to do if they’re caught by a rip current: let the current take you, swim parallel to the shore, and then swim in once you’re out of the current. The idea is this: the current is stronger than you, so fighting it is futile, you will tire out, and then you will drown (or at least that’s what they tell you on the television). In reality, this is quite true. Water is really dense and heavy, and when you’re in water, you’re surrounded by something very dense and heavy. When water wants to go one way, it will go that way, regardless if you’re there or not. So, when the water pushes you in one direction, let it, then get yourself headed in the direction you want to go.
You guessed it, there’s a business parallel here, but maybe not in the same way as my other examples. You see, like the rip currents in the water, the marketplace has its own currents and trends. The market has its ways about itself, and people tend to track that direction. As expected, the path of least resistance is often in the same direction as the trend. You will, undoubtedly, experience less stress and negative impact than when you align your business with the market. BUT! Sometimes, you’re a strong swimmer, and you think you can make your way out of the current. Sometimes, you’re right, too. Going against the market (in the) right ways, can pay off big time. You have to be prepared, and you have to know what you’re getting yourself into. With the right planning and preparation, you can paddle against the stream, and find yourself in a nice position to catch the next wave.
Three simple rules for simple success in open water: jump in, relax, and go with the flow. If you can master these, you won’t find yourself in too much trouble in the water. For more open water tips, or tips on how to navigate something big in business, get in touch - I’d love to help.