These days, when I see other swimmers on the beach, it feels like I didn’t get the memo.
Years ago, before cold water swimming became popular, a dip in the sea required just two things: a swimsuit and a towel.
Not anymore.
Social media marketers have turned a simple activity into a complex ritual requiring lots of branded kit that, suddenly, nobody can be without.
As a result, there’s processions of human penguins on the beach — hobbling dry robes weighed down by heavy bags carrying the contents of an Amazon warehouse.
But why?
To experience the joy of floating in the sea, all you have to do is strip off and jump in.
It’s the same story elsewhere: a simple act made complicated for no obvious gain.
Does that meeting really need a fancy slide deck? Does that corporate strategy really need more technology? Does good leadership really need a 16-point model and 300 page handbook?
Oftentimes these are just crutches to lean on, when the real issue is something else: the lack of trusting our own senses and innate abilities.
Swimmers who buy dry robes and tow floats are presumably concerned for their wellbeing and safety. But in the English channel there is no escaping the cold — it’s simpler to just embrace it. And if you’re scared of drowning, it’s safer to swim with someone else than rely on a flimsy float.
We have become so accustomed to productised ‘solutions’ that we sometimes overlook our own capabilities as humans. And those solutions end up suffocating the very thing we want to unleash.
If we trusted ourselves more, what else could we simplify?
True Horizon Coaching 