JUMP IN

Who has gone swimming far too early in the year? In other words, jumped in and hit that cold water. There’s a few ways that people that approach that water:

First ones are the knuckleheads like me, who just go ahead and jump in. You know it’s going to be like this: Holy smokes! It’s freaking cold! You hit that water and it’s like holy crap! What the heck just happened to my body? And you’re hoping something doesn’t freeze up, or that you can still breathe, and it just kind of takes your breath away.

But how many of you know in about 30 seconds, it’s all good? And you get in there and you enjoy life in the pool. How many of you, though, before you get in there you’re already talking yourself out of it. But you finally realize… everybody else is in the pool, right, and they’re having fun…and you’re sitting there putting one foot in…you get another foot in…and you agonize every little step…that somehow prolonging that pain over about a 15 minute period is just gonna make things bad.

Eventually, you get up to your thighs in that cold water, and you’re like, I’m not going to make it. Let’s just say it’s gonna get really cold, and you finally get in there and you’re at waist level, then you’re at chest level. And you get to that point where it takes your breath away. And you just agonize, but eventually, you get in there, your body has adjusted, and you’re good.

How many of you treat or are even looking at coaching that way right now? Or treat your business that way? If you haven’t signed up as a coach yet, or you haven’t joined a team, and you’re looking at coaching as this opportunity as that cold water and before you even get in,you’re already talking yourself out of it. Because you know you’re looking at that water and you go, this is going to be cold. You know the process this is going to take, and you talk yourself out of it.

Well, for the most part, you haven’t even dipped your toe in the water yet, so how do you really know it’s that cold? You’re just not sure of it just yet, but you see all these people there having a good time.

How many of you have been snorkeling? Maybe to the Caribbean, or to some amazingly beautiful coral reef, or something like that. How many do you know that the really cool stuff happens below the surface where you see all these beautiful colors, all this amazing life that goes on in the water, but you won’t know that until you get in the water, you hear what everyone else is telling you, but you can’t see it, because it’s in the water.

We went snorkeling, and the water was like a degree above freezing, so it took a little while to adjust. We got into the water, and when we finally adjusted to it, we got our snorkels on, and life just opened up. It was amazing, some of the things that we were able to see. All the life below the surface.

I want to tell you a little story about how you just need to take that plunge, even if you are already a coach, if you haven’t gotten in the water yet, because there are still some of those people, some of you, and I was one of those people for about the first year of coaching .

This is what I did. I put my feet in the water, and I’m looking…I’m seeing all the people having fun, but I’ve still got my butt on the boat, and my feet are hanging in the water, or on the pool, on the edge of the pool. Either way, my butt’s still on the floor. My butt hadn’t been in the water yet. But I wanna tell you a story about how getting in that water, overcoming that fear, because often times, that fear of what’s gonna happen when you jump in

that water, that keeps people from jumping in. That anticipation of that little shot value of the unknown of what’s gonna happen, when you get in there, that keeps people from doing what they need to do, to keep people from going after whatever that goal is that you want to accomplish.

About 21 years ago, I was sitting in college class, I look over and of course, what is an 18/19 year old guy in a college classroom thinking about? Thinking about the girls of course!

I’m trying to get my head screwed on straight. I’m paying attention to the teacher, but I’m also looking at this cute little lady over here, and I’m thinking, I don’t know how I’m going to meet her again. She is cute, man. She’s about this high, and she’s cute as a button. So I’m sitting there, and I’m going, I got to meet this girl, and my heart was racing…you don’t understand how shy I was. It was horrible. It was ridiculous when it came to talking to a girl. It was just crazy.

So after class, somehow I started talking to her. Long story short, I spent 10 minutes talking to her and decided…she’s not quite what I thought she was. So I go back to class a couple of days later, so I’m sitting there moping, and I just happened to put my head down and out of the corner of my eye, I see this other young lady in the class and I’m thinking holy smokes, how did I miss HER? She is freaking gorgeous! I really knew I was in trouble, because my heart really started racing…the reason I figured out the first time it was easy for me to talk to this other young lady was because I really wasn’t interested. It was just like, “she’s cute. I gotta talk to her.”

So I looked over and I saw this other young lady, and I’m thinking wow…dang, man. I gotta do this, I gotta go talk to her. So it was a couple of days later, and she was giving a speech about, I don’t know what, because I was looking at her, “I gotta meet this girl, she’s so cute!” So at the end of this class, the professor dismissed us, so we’re all packing up to get out of class to get to the next class, and I’m shoving my books in my bag, and she comes walking…how many of you had those moments where like everything just slows down…slow motion…here…she…comes….and she’s…gone…so my head’s pounding, my heart’s pounding…We just need to jump in and do.

So I finally told myself screw it. Just do it. So I shoved the books in my bag, zipped it up and put it over my shoulder and said “Hey.”

There’s something that you need to do in your coaching. Whether it’s to make a plunge and take that jump into joining a team, maybe it’s something outside of coaching. Maybe you’re in your business right now, and you know that individual you need to go talk to, that needs you, that needs something that you have, but you’re afraid, you’re a little bit intimidated, maybe you’re a little bit scared about what they will say or do.

There’s something out there that you need to do, you need to overcome, that if you do it, it will make a major change in your life.  If there’s someone you know you need to talk to, a follow up call you need to make, some step you need to take, right now, that you know if you did it, it would literally change your life forever.

How many of you have seen the movie “We Bought a Zoo?” It’s with Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. In the movie, this dad bought this zoo, and he and his son are sitting there, talking together, and they have had trouble connecting since his mother died.  The boy likes this young lady, and he does something that messes the whole situation up. But he wants to correct it, he just doesn’t know what to do.

So he sits there talking to Matt Damon, his dad in the movie, he says “you know, you’re embarrassed if you say something, you’re embarrassed if you don’t.” And that character of Matt Damon says something that made me realize something and just really stuck with me. He says “Sometimes it just takes 20 seconds of insane embarrassing courage and I promise you something good will come out of it.”

Sometimes it doesn’t even take that long. It doesn’t necessarily take 20 seconds. Sometimes it just takes 2 for you to do that one thing, to take that one step towards that goal that you need to do. I promise you something good will come out of it. What came out of me just taking that literally two seconds for me to say, screw it, do it, zip up the bag, and say “hi?”

What came out of that for me? 20+ years later, I am more in love with this young lady than I have ever been since I met her, and that young lady is Brandy. So for me, that two seconds just overcoming that little fear of jumping in there and being willing to freeze in the pool just for a few seconds, because if she had said no, what would have happened? My life would have ended? No.

Sometimes it’s just those few seconds. Maybe you need to make that phone call and talk to somebody. It might just take that few seconds to pick up the phone and dial a number. But you don’t have to live life completely full of 24/7, 365 courage. You just need a few seconds to take that one step, to take that big step. Some of you have big things that you want to accomplish, that you want to do. But you’re still testing the water. You’re still two feet in, but your butt is in the boat. Your feet are still in the water, just enough to get your feet cold. But again, the life of it all is out in the water. It may be a little cold at first, it may be a little tough at first. But when you take that plunge, and you make that commitment, you say you know what, I’m all in this, I’m going for it.

And there is always that small chance that it may not work out the way you want it. But with the greatest risk, comes the greatest reward. So whatever it is today that you need to do, you know that you need to make that jump, make that phone call, make that email, say hi to somebody, I don’t know what that is for you. That one individual that you need to talk to, go do it. Whatever it is today, if you can make it physically possible, then go do that thing today, do it. Don’t think about it. When I shoved those books in that bag zipped that thing up and said hey, I didn’t think about it. Literally I said screw it. Do it. Put my bag on my shoulder, said hi. Clearly one of the best things I could have ever done my entire life. I promise you something good will come out of it. So again, go do it.

Bryan Martin