don’t think too much…

I am laying in bed in a small hotel somewhere in the middle of gorgeous Austria.

The weather in the south of france right now is perfect.

Sophie stayed at home this weekend to relax by the pool…while I woke up at 4am this morning to catch a small commuter jet at 6:00… to arrive to Munich, Germany … and then struggled to find my train which I then rode for 2 hours to Austria…. where it rained the entire day and is scheduled to do the same tomorrow….

…and I am here in Austria just so I can test myself and swim 6 hours non stop tomorrow morning in a 55 F degree lake.

Irronically, I had a comment today asking me to explain/do a blog on “why” I have set the goal to swim the english channel?

Which reminded me of a discussion I have had off and on for the past 10 years with the Voice of Reason…. who thinks that all too often goals are set without being fundamentally grounded in “why” it is a goal.

His question is always the same: “Big or small, should not a goal be rooted in some type of value-based process?”

He has asked me numerous times…

Why do I want to do more ironmans?
Why do I want to travel to 120 countries?”
Why do I want to swim the english channel?

I keep telling him, if we think too much about why we want to do something, i.e. why we set a certain goal, we will end up just sitting around thinking about it – and possibly not go about trying to make the goal happen.

Surely, our biggest goals have an immutable “why” to them, but its never that simple — example,  “Achievement” is what drives me, but, my goal of traveling to 120 different countries has only to do with my love of adventure.

Furthermore….

If I sat around trying to figure out and understand exactly, why I have certain goals … I could easily talk myself out of trying to achieve them.

Even if one maps out and understands clearly why they want to achieve something — it is meaningless to set a goal  if one does not do everything in their power to achieve the goal.

I suggest going after a goal, and doing everything in ones power to achieve – even if one fails,  in the end, it’s still better than sitting around at a cafe thinking about “why” they should be setting the goal.

As for me ….

why am I sitting in a small chalet style of hotel somewhere in the middle of Austria getting ready to swim 6 hours in the rain in the coldest lake in this country…training for my attempt to swim the english channel in 7 weeks … why am doing this??  Why do I want to attempt to swim the english channel??????

I can make up some politically correct BS answer…

But to be completely honest –

I am doing this for the “finishers photo.”