Standing at the edge of the pool in my bathing suit, cap, and goggles, I am frozen. I am cold and I am stuck.

It seems almost impossible to take the plunge. I manage to slide in waist deep. Fully submerging at this point should be easy – I’m HALFWAY. Yet, I find myself standing on my tip toes, fighting the inevitable.

Eventually, I dunk.

I truly do enjoy swimming – I hate getting in. Sadly, the getting in part of swimming has kept me out of the pool more often than I’d like to admit.

Most everything – probably anything with meaning or value – has some friction attached to it.

So, what’s the trick to removing the friction? To get unstuck?  After googling that question and realizing that there are a bazillion books, videos and articles with as many different answers, I am taking a stab at answering my own question…

1. Get in touch with the importance of what’s behind your wanting the thing. In other words, understand your why (Simon Sinek). Focusing on what (swimming) isn’t nearly as persuasive as my why (desire to make it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, feel strong, be a badass).

2. Visualize the way you want it to go.

Last night I visualized getting in the pool quickly and with ease. I visualized all of it from choosing a locker, changing into my swimsuit, putting on my cap and goggles, walking to the edge of the pool, jumping in and then quickly dunking my head.  

And it worked. This morning, as I pushed off the wall to begin my laps, I smiled to myself with how much easier and more pleasant the process was.

I am not exactly clear on the science behind how visualization works. What I do know, is that it is powerful as all heck and that if it works for me, I’m sure it will work for you…