Just keep swimming!

I'm sitting at the side of the swimming pool watching the swimmers zoom up and down the pool. I’ve been in and finished my swim and I’m now waiting for my son to finish as the top squads are still going. Swimming 5 times a week, they're certainly a lot fitter than I am. It reminds me of that old saying, practice makes perfect. Without persevering with these exercises over and over again they wouldn't improve.

Of course, that used to be me. I used to be the one in the pool 5 days a week and whilst I’m glad I did, I don’t feel the need to swim quite as much anymore. Thanks to all that experience and muscle memory, when I get in the pool now I'm still able to swim well despite my lack of fitness.

This weekend, my little sidekick Bailey really embraced water for the first time as well. He's an anxious little pup and has come a long way since we got him when he was just 10 weeks old. Now he's just had his first birthday and whilst he's always been interested in water, until lately he has always been rather tentative. Until now he would only take tiny steps in for a quick drink whenever he was thirsty from repeatedly running after his squeaky ball. From there, he gradually became willing to stretch his neck and lean further in to reach his ball as it floated gently away from him.

Then last week he decided he liked the water so much he'd have a little rest in a puddle (of course this was bittersweet as I still had to get him home in the car afterwards) and now there's no stopping him. A couple of days ago, chasing ducks took him out of his depth, which took him by surprise and to his delight he found he could swim!

Last weekend we enjoyed a few days by the sea in the North West of England, and he embraced the choppy waters to go and get his ball. Gradually we threw it further out for him to collect and he managed all but the last time (when my sister’s dog kindly did the honours for him). I'm so proud of his perseverance. Even when he wasn't sure of himself, he kept trying, kept pushing himself on and he got there in the end. I think there's a lesson in there for us all!

The swimmers in the pool are persevering too. At this level, there are few really big improvements, it's just tiny little adjustments that hopefully taken together will add up to a new personal best or an improvement in fitness that allows them to swim longer distances efficiently. Likewise in my business, I continue to look for those changes that will save me a little time here or generate a little more income there. And as Dory once said (and I have adopted as my personal mantra), “just keep swimming”!