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A 'STRUCTURE' METAPHOR USING SWIMMING:
You may or may not know that I swim...A LOT. About 2 or 3
kilometres a day, sometimes more. I call myself a "Wild Swimmer" because I love swimming in the outdoors. I'm getting older now, but there was a time when I swam
competitively. In 2007 six of us swam The Channel as a relay team to raise funds
for poorly children. That was a test of my technique, resilience and preparation!
To prepare, you have to acclimatise to cold water and swim
lots and lots of laps in the pool and hours in the cold sea to acclimatise. Swimming lots of laps can be boring unless
you've trained your brain to go into a trance, to focus on your goal or simply mull-over
ideas and put the world to rights. It helps pass the time.
You might wonder what on earth I am telling you this for on
a career blog. Simple. Whilst swimming this morning, an idea came to my mind in
the confines of my lane in the 25 metre pool I spend most mornings in. The key
word here is 'confines'. It struck me in this large 5-sided tank of water that
I was confined and, rather than feeling caged-in, the boundaries of the lane
were very helpful to practicing my technique. Then it struck me that anyone
succeeding in any particular job, career, sport or game, is similarly confined and benefits in the same way.
You see, nearly every business great, celebrity or sports star that we love
have mastered their skills, strengths, talents and gifts within their specific
arena. They have become outstanding by making themselves uniquely talented whilst
performing ‘in the zone’. Every exceptional person you can think of has
excelled within the confines of their chosen discipline. They have mastered the
structures, rules and regulations of their chosen field and learned how
to use these ‘guidelines’ (like a swimming lane) to their advantage.
In just the same way 'a field' can be a large strip of land
surrounded by a wall to grow crops, the word 'field' can be used to describe an
occupation, profession, trade or vocation. The more clear the demarcation lines
around 'the field' the more recognisable it is. Some people get hung-up on the
semantics that differentiate one field from another, e.g. Osteopath /
Chiropractic, Farrier / Blacksmith, Sociologist / Psychotherapist. (Sometimes
radical ways of interpreting the rules come along and we see the birth of new
fields; but that’s another story for another blog entry).
Professional footballers make their living quite literally
on a field of play. But their sport is differentiated by rules and regulations as is each position in the team from forward to defender, goalkeeper to winger.
Otherwise their sport would be chaos and each game would be a free-for-all with no way of managing it.
Skills mastery is a key ingredient in career success in
whatever field, occupation or sport. For example, when I am swimming well, I
know that I will take exactly 18 strokes of frontcrawl to swim a 25
metre length in the pool. If my stroke is inefficient, it will take more. If
less, I will tire more easily. Knowing this fact about my performance
disciplines my mind and helps me swim more efficiently because it gives me a
reason to focus on form and technique. It also stops me from getting tired.
HOW DOES THIS TRANSLATE:
Going back to football, world-renowned David Beckham has mastered his
footballing skill to the extent that he is famous for his precise passes
of the ball and great goals scored from free-kicks. He is outstandingly talented
yet he plays within the confines of strict rules, keeps the ball within the
boundaries of the pitch and focuses his energies, ultimately, on precision goal-scoring.
He can tell when he is performing well or not by the number
of goals scored or whether his passes to other players land at their feet or go
off the pitch (field of play). His experience gained through many hours of
practice inform him when he has made an error or when he is playing well. He
can adapt his technique according to the results because he sees where his
passes or shots on goal finish-up.
We know it takes the world's most successful people about
10,000 hours to get to the top of their field and Beckham’s level of expertise.
Be that in sport or in business. This means that people like Bill Gates, David
Beckham or sports stars like Maria Sharipova will have invested in the region
of 10 years hard work, focus and sacrifice to win-through to achieve recognisable success.
Mastering technique requires much dedication. Yet, perhaps
equally importantly, we need to understand the rules of the landscape we
operate in. Choosing to specialise and become masters of our career attributes,
talents and gifts means we must understand, visualise and respect the confines
of our professional discipline. This is why we use the word ‘discipline’ to
describe an occupation or skill in a sport.
Far from cramping our style and reducing our choices,
limiting our peripheral vision helps us to concentrate our attention, effort
and time into becoming proficient at what we do best. There will always be people
who would rather taste a wide variety in their career choices before they settle
down to focus on one thing.
However, after experiencing the peaks and troughs of my own career
journey – once I discovered my own career passion - coupled with 15 years of
coaching others along their career journeys, I can safely say that it is the
people who knuckle-down sooner into their own rhythm in the confines of their
preferred field who tend to reap the greatest rewards and look happiest. Limiting our choice,
focussing our attention and pouring our energies in a specific field make our
decisions far easier and career so much more resilient to the inevitability of
change in the 21st Century labour market.
SO WHAT’S THE POINT:
Following the global financial crisis of 2008 earning a
sustainable livelihood has become much more about finding a wage than building
a sense of career. We see the phrase ‘career resilience’ used to describe how
important it is for personal survival to be able to evolve from one skill-set
to another in order that we find work that puts food on the table. Yet
deep-down, I see the workers who master their talents as being the most
resilient, the most happy and the better equipped to face the ever-changing work
landscape. They are also the most employable.
5 GUIDING WORDS:
My advice, therefore? If you wish to excel, ‘learn to swim’ in the
confines of your own field. Invest many hours in mastering your skills and
polishing your talent. This is one reason why the artisan craftsmen and women I
see are so in demand and always have a sparkle in their eye. That way, you
stand more chance of being master of your own destiny and eating whilst many
others go hungry.
Here are 5 words that will help you along the way:
- ‘Discipline’ – it takes a lot to focus your mind on a particular goal worth striving for. Unless your goals are worth devoting yourself to, the discipline will never come.
- ‘Control’ – Sometimes, alongside ‘Discipline’, we have to control our thoughts, actions, emotions and thirsts for the temptations that might thwart our progress.
- ‘Denial’ – often great plans are undone by refusing to acknowledge the reality, even when we can see why we’re failing as clear as day.
- ‘Sacrifice’ – Along with the many temptations that risk distracting us, we have to give-up some of our favourite indulgences like TV, crappy food, unhelpful friendships and delusions if we are going to fulfil our potential.
- ‘Opportunity’ – Having honed all of our talents and skills and polished our gifts to a bright sparkle, none of the investment of time, effort and dedication is worth a bean unless we are able to recognise the opportunities to excel that come our way.
DO YOURSELF A GREAT
FAVOUR:
Step-back for a moment and look at your work/life plans. Can
you see your metaphorical ‘swimming pool’? Can you visualise the shape and form
of the guiding constraints of the particular field you wish to specialise in?
Have you disciplined your technique through many hours of practice so that you
know exactly when your technique is great and you’re performing well? Give your
potential a chance, zero-in your focus, choose your goals well and polish your
devotion.
Strange as it may seem, the truly outstanding talents who
walk alongside us in this multi-faceted, diverse, complex and decision-laden
world, know better than anyone does the confines of their own fields. And that
is exactly the reason they came to shine so brilliantly.
Happy swimming!!
