2020 Momentum gsport Awards ambassador, Penny Heyns, believes in choosing to become a person of excellence, living life without compromise and never taking short-cuts along the way.
During her career, Heyns often noticed how swimmers would take the easy route, cheating at each training session as they short-turned from reaching the wall during their laps.
At the time, they may have been skipping a few meters during a single workout which seemed insignificant, but in the long run, it affects your performance and prevents you from being your best.
Heyns says the same applies in everyday life whether it would be in our relationships, in our businesses, our studies, our sport or most sadly, perhaps even in our spiritual walk – our relationship with God, our Creator.
In her column this week, Heyns encourages us to be disciplined in order to bring out ouhttps://gsport.co.za/penny-heyns-swim-your-own-race-2/r best.
Those who enjoy swimming as a form of exercise will be familiar with the black line running along the length of the bottom of the pool as well as the horizontal line crossing it about a meter away from the wall. The purpose of this “T” is to indicate to the swimmers their distance from the wall so as to assist in the timing of the tumble turn.
During my swimming career I often however noticed how a lot of swimmers will turn short of the walls in training, thus cheating, ever so slightly. I referred to this as turning on the “T”. If you’re not a swimmer you may be wondering what relevance turning on the “T” has to your sport or even life in general. Allow me to explain.
At swim meets during warm-ups as well as workouts, I noticed that several swimmers would stop on that line and then quickly look over their shoulders to see if coach is watching. If no one is looking they’ll turn around a meter short of the wall and continue swimming back. They may only be skipping a few meters during a single workout which may seem insignificant when compared to the vast distances swum overall, but the problem is that when you add up those meters over a season, or over a year, it really makes a big difference.
“We so often turn on the “T”. Whether it would be in our relationships, in our businesses, our studies, our sport or most sadly, perhaps even in our spiritual walk – our relationship with God, our Creator.” – 2020 Momentum gsport Awards ambassador, Penny Heyns
In the beginning it may not amount to much, but when the day of reckoning comes, the day when you get up on those starting blocks, ready to swim your big race, you can’t honestly look yourself in the heart and say that you are ready and able to give your best…. because every little bit counts.
In life it’s the same. We so often turn on the “T”. Whether it would be in our relationships, in our businesses, our studies, our sport or most sadly, perhaps even in our spiritual walk – our relationship with God, our Creator.
You see, turning on the “T” is not just for swimmers. Turning on the “T” is that time, when you decide that you’re just going to tell that small white lie, because ‘it’s not going to hurt anyone’. It’s those times, when you as a parent have promised your daughter that you’re going to go watch her soccer match or perhaps her dancing rehearsal, and then at the last minute when it’s not convenient for you to go, or you have alternative plans, you just quickly cancel.
Those things eat away at your relationships. As we relate to each other we build up something like an emotional bank account where we have the power and choice to either make deposits (positive reinforcement) or withdrawals (negative outcomes) in each other’s lives.
I believe compromise is the area where we most often short-change ourselves. We convince ourselves that the white lies and the ‘cutting corners’ in areas that we don’t perceive to be important won’t matter in the long run, but to the contrary it is the seemingly innocent and small actions or choices that add up to erode away the trust foundation of our relationships with each other. We need to be committed in our pursuit of truth and excellence.
“In order to fulfil all the potential that is in you and the goals that God has for your life, the divine dream that He has for you, you have to recognize that along with all the previous topics I have written about – ‘Taking Responsibility, ‘Swim your own Race’ etc., the most important component probably, is Discipline.” – Heyns speaks on fulfilling your purpose.
In order to fulfil all the potential that is in you and the goals that God has for your life, the divine dream that He has for you, you have to recognize that along with all the previous topics I have written about – ‘Taking Responsibility, ‘Swim your own race’ etc., the most important component probably, is Discipline.
As an athlete, as a swimmer I couldn’t have expected to go to the Olympics and compete for those gold medals or chase those World Records, if I was going to sleep in on some mornings. If I was going to skip training on the days when it was snowing too heavily outside. (Remember, I trained in the US and Canada for 8 years).
I had set goals for myself and I’d laid out a plan. Part of that plan was to go to every single workout. Not only to show up for workout, but to have in mind exactly what I was going to do and most importantly to know why I was doing those sets. It’s important that we understand why we do the things we do.
Because then only can you put your heart fully into it… Then only can you be truly passionate and then the commitment comes easier. But the discipline is up to you; no-one can force you.
A previous article focused on responsibility, and this ties in. You have to take responsibility and decide to be disciplined.
“My challenge to you is to really be honest with yourself. How disciplined are you?” – Heyns encourages everyone to be honest in their respective journeys.
Discipline is something you can’t compromise on and sadly in this world today it’s the one thing that’s lacking. It’s the one reason why people don’t achieve their goals because somewhere along the line when they get disappointed, they lose direction and quickly compromise their standards and dreams.
My challenge to you is to really be honest with yourself. How disciplined are you? Where do you cut corners; where do you turn on the “T”? Next time you feel like just telling the white lie or you think that you’re going to cut down on your study time just a little or perhaps this Friday you’re going out when you weren’t intending to, ask yourself, ‘Are you turning on the T’? This was a challenge for me in my swimming career.
All around me, people were cheating, people were cutting corners and had excuses and justifications that made sense to them, but at the end of the day, if you’re going to live your life like that, you’re only harming one person and that’s yourself!
Choose to be a person of excellence, living life without compromise and success will soon find you!
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