I know that sometimes we all WANT to do so many things, however, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to do them all. Well, I would like to share a true story with you all and this is another business lesson from a child…my daughter.

A few weeks ago we were at my parents house and my daughter was in the pool. She just loves to be in the water and has been teaching herself to swim for awhile now. She has progressed to where she can swim across the length of the pool with the “safety” of flotation devices near her to grab onto if needed.

Well, this day she decided that she was going to challenge herself and she told me, “Mom, I think I am going to swim across the pool and NOT have the flotation thingys next to me”. “Ok”, I replied (as inside I was a bit nervous, however, I knew that she could do it).

So, off she started swimming once to the other side of the pool. I was steady cheering her on, stating, “Just keep kicking your feet” and “You’ve got it”. She made it to the other side and she exclaimed with a big grin on her face, “Mom, I did it without needing any help!”

Within a minute, she added, “Ok, now I am going to try and swim to the other side and come back without really stopping. Ya know, like those people do on TV.” Well, needless to say, I was abit apprehensive about this feat. I didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm so I just gently said, “Just take your time and remember to kick your feet and swing your arms and I am sure you can do it.”

No more than a few minutes went by after she took a couple of deep breaths, and off she went to swim to the other side of the pool again. When she got to the other side, she came up, took about 3 more deep breaths and become to swim again back towards me.

As she was swimming back, I noticed that her moments became slower so I kept cheering, “Keep going-kick, kick, kick!” She was looking at me and then she closed her eyes. Next thing I knew she had made it to the side of the pool. Even though her breath was heavy indeed as she wiped her face off, she panted saying, “Mom, you know what I did?” I said, “Yes, sweetie, you did it. You made it all the way across the pool and I am so proud of you.” After a couple of much needed deep breaths and sitting on the steps, she turned to me and said, “No, do you know how I was able to do that?” Again, in my mom mode, I said, “well, you kicked your feet and kept going.” She said, Mom (you all know the voice), yes, but, the reason why I was able to make it across was I closed my eyes and invisioned the side of the pool closer than it was and that made it easier for me to get to the other side. (and here comes the kicker)

She continues, “It is like in life, if you think about how hard something is or how long away it may take you to get there…it seems impossible, however, if you take it one stroke at a time, then it makes it easier to reach.”

Well, what else do I need to say? That’s my girl.

Filed under: Writing & Speaking Business Lessons