Industry Magazine Get JACK'D Magazine Summer 2018 | Page 12

PATH TO SUCCESS
YOU DON’T NEED
MOTIVATION TO
START ON YOUR
PATH TO SUCCESS
BY: NEIL PASRICHA, AUTHOR OF THE BOOK OF AWESOME
I NEVER learned to swim as a kid.
Ear infections dotted my childhood, so I was outfitted with
never-ending sets of tubes. Swimming lessons became skating
lessons when I got fancy rubber molded earplugs and a plastic
cap for showering.
I was afraid of swimming and became good at avoiding it. Why
didn’t I swim? First, I didn’t think I could swim. Second, I didn’t
want to swim. Strapping on a bathing suit meant showing off my
spaghetti arms and man boobs. It meant getting cold and wet
and chlorine-y and showering and changing afterward. Why?
Exercise could be done in other ways. As I got older, I told myself
the best conversations at the pool party were at the barbecue.
And I didn’t live near an ocean. So I convinced myself swimming
was a waste of time.
What are the two barriers we place in front of our least
desirable tasks? Capability and motivation. In other words, can’t
do it and don’t want to, anyway! It looks like this:
Can Do → Want To Do → Do.
Everything changed in a flash when I fell in love with Leslie
over a few months. We’re married today, but it was only a few
dates in when she started telling me one night how much she
loved to swim. “It’s my favorite thing to do in the world,” she said.
“The water just feels like home.”
“Not me,” I said, disappointed. “I don’t swim. Not a big fan.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said. “You see, my family has had a
cottage, for generations, on an island. Every morning the 20 of
us — my 80-year-old grandparents, my 10-year-old cousins —
jump in the lake and swim around the island.”
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