Life in the Shallow End

If you were to write your autobiography, what would the title be? Isn’t that a marvelous question? Have you lived the life you envisioned? Is it a life worth retelling? If you are not satisfied with any of your answers to these questions, there is good news!

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It could be you have only lived chapter one (no matter how old you are) and you can determine how exciting all of the other chapters will be. You have the ability to choose the path you will take in business and life and create a bestseller! My answer to this question can be found in the title of this article. Let me explain.

Every summer of my youth was spent primarily at our community pool. I have come to realize that most community pools have three distinct areas—the shallow end, the lap pool and the deep end. Kids at our pool started by having access only to the shallow end, since our swimming abilities were limited. But that was also the area where everyone seemed to be having the most fun!

There were always games being played, balls being tossed, cooties being distributed and chicken wars engaged in (when the lifeguard wasn’t watching). While it provided hours of enjoyment, there was an unwritten rule that we all followed: you eventually needed to move from the shallow end to the lap pool where you learned to swim. It was hard work and took hours of time and repetition, but there was a huge payoff that all of those laps would provide—the deep end!

When we played in the shallow end, sometimes we would pause to watch the big kids and grown-ups do exciting things off the diving board. We all knew that the deep end was where we wanted to be, but we also knew we had to get through thousands of laps in the lap pool to get there.

I followed the age-old prescribed path and after years of swim team practices behind me, I made it to the deep end. I actually became one of those speedo clad lifeguards and enjoyed all that the deep end had to offer. But this is where my pool story (and life story) takes a turn from the normal path.

One day while reveling in the aura of the deep end, I gazed over at the shallow end. I was proud of my journey through the lap pool and my conquest of the deep waters. but I had an epiphany when I watched what was happening in the shallow end. It was more fun in the shallow end!

I realized that as I progressed on the natural path I left behind some of my favorite things, like tag and pickle and, most of all, Marco Polo! So I decided to dive back into the shallow end (not literally of course because pictures of little diving men in a circle with a line through them were all around the shallow end). At first it was awkward; the kids stopped and stared, but only for a brief moment and then I was brought into whatever game was being played at the time. Not only did my break with tradition change my enjoyment of the pool, but it changed my life.

I have come to realize that life is just like the progression at the pool. We all start in the shallow end where laughter and fun rules the day, but then as we move to the lap pool we start to work. We believe we must leave the joy of the shallow end and get serious. We learn about all kinds of things (think different strokes) with the hope that we may excel at just even one of them.

If we find that we are really good at one thing, we may never leave the lap pool because we are expected to focus on our strength. In other words, we focus on our success at work so much that we may even lose sight of what the ultimate goal was in the first place. If the deep end was the ultimate goal, I am afraid it may disappoint most people, because they have never learned how to enjoy it. I decided long ago that I never wanted to completely leave the shallow end, because I never want to lose the fun and excitement that I started with.

In our business life we make the same decisions. Travel is fun! Yes we have to swim laps, we have to work on our techniques, we have to sometimes go deep, but each day we should be having fun in a business where dreams can come true!

If your day is getting long, your emails are piling up, your clients are testing your patience and your income is not as impressive as you want, then come back to the shallow end. You know why you decided to get into travel, so come back to where your passion was created. I will be waiting for you. Tag, you’re it!