I’ve had plenty of setbacks and perceived “failures” in my life.

I’ve had times when I want to just stay in bed all day, curl up in a ball and sulk.

My self confidence and self esteem plummeted and it may take weeks to get back up to where I was.

I’m sure you can relate.

You try something new and it doesn’t work, and think “I’m a failure!” And this sets you back from improving or even trying it again.

But there’s a way to “reframe” this, so that you NEVER fail!

Instead of thinking about and focusing on failures and setbacks, think of everything you do in life as an experiment.

You experiment with a new job, new relationship, new place to live… and it may or may not go the way you want it to.

Getting better at swimming is no different. Every training plan, every workout, every set, every breath, and every stroke, you are experimenting.

Ask: Will this work for me?

Then: Is this working for me?

Then: How did that work for me?

The beauty is you get to learn a lot more from your mistakes, your “failures”, then you do your successes.

You grow little by little as you rack up these failures.

You put the pieces together little by little, and move closer to your goals, by not getting hung up on the downturns, the setbacks, the mistakes or just the days that nothing seems to be going right.

The big picture of life is made up of a series of experiments.

Here are a few ideas of how you can experiment with your training:

-Swim in the morning
-Swim in the evening
-Try fins
-Sprint more often
-Take fewer strokes per length
-Join a masters swim group
-Learn a stroke besides freestyle
-Bilateral breathing
-Wim Hof breathing

And of course, you are more than welcome to experiment with Tri Swim Success, our training program for any distance triathlon. 🙂

To your Success (and “Failure”!)