Leadership Lessons from Sea Swimming
Photo by Benjamin Sow on Unsplash
In the last few years, I have felt a strong affinity for water, but it wasn’t until I started learning sea swimming that water also became one of my teachers.
I learned to swim in a pool when I was 10 years old, and I have known since then that my technique isn’t the best. Back then, I was more focused on doing everything I could to avoid drowning, and as a result, my technique suffered. The only stroke I performed well was the backstroke.
Relying on the backstroke, I started feeling comfortable jumping into the sea. Realizing my love for the sea, I finally took the plunge into sea swimming with a coach to improve my technique and learn how to handle waves, not knowing that it would also teach me some leadership and life lessons!
The first thing my swimming coach told me was that people die because they panic, not because of drowning. He meant that human bodies, when in a relaxed state and with air in the lungs, will naturally float. When we panic, we may hold our breath and tense our muscles, which leads to drowning. So the key to not drowning is focusing on your breath. To my surprise, I could start floating vertically (without frantically doggy paddling) within four classes as I became more relaxed and could focus on my breathing.
On days with a high tide, he would ask us to voluntarily dive into a wave to practice being carried along with it. Whether I took a normal breath before jumping into it or a big gasp of mouthful air would indicate whether I was relaxed or not. That would define how comfortably I could handle the wave. As the lessons continued, he asked me to become aware if I shut my eyes (which I did when encountering a bigger wave), pursed my lips too tightly, wasn’t exhaling underwater (which happened during a turbulent wave), or if my palms were stiff.
While diving right into the wave, anyone looking at me would see that I was confident. I even felt confident! But in that big gasp of air with puffed cheeks and stiff palms, there was still a mini-tension — an indication that I was making floating difficult for myself.
With the ever-present urgency and fast pace of a startup, it’s easy to get used to being in a mini-panic mode all the time and not even be aware of it. How often do we check if we are tense in our body and mannerisms?
The waves of external circumstances may not be within our control, but whether we are still focusing on the things that will help us stay afloat is. However fast we may want to swim, whether we drown or swim through will depend on how we really feel in the endless sea of challenges. We can consciously breathe and let it be easy!
💡Tip: Research says that a significant portion of our daily actions — estimated between 80–95% — are carried out unconsciously on autopilot. You can start checking in with yourself, especially before going into important conversations or making important decisions, with these two questions:
How am I breathing right now? (Is it relaxed, shallow, or am I holding my breath?)
Where do I feel any tightness or tension in my body? (Followed by breathing in, imagining sending the breath to that part.)
