Wisdom in a Swimming Pool...

I write this at the risk of looking a bit foolish, but something very interesting happened yesterday...

I have been swimming for exercise without impact, and it's kind of new to me.  So for the past month I've been building up strength and stamina, to the point where I can do 10 laps.  I've felt very proud of my achievement, being able to swim such distance.

Yesterday, for some reason I was swimming more comfortably than ever and decided to push myself a little bit more.  My body was ready to stop at 10 but for some reason, my mind was screaming KEEP GOING!  So I did.  I did one more lap.

The amazing thing happened during that final push to complete one more lap.   I thought, 'What if this 50 meter pool is 50m ONE WAY?!'.  You see, my spacial understanding of metrics is shaky at best.  And for a month I've been swimming believing a 50m pool to equal one lap, up and back.  Something in my brain just clicked and I realized that 50m is the physical length of the pool!  Meaning that swimming 10 laps is swimming 1 kilometer! 

I doubled my distance in an instant!

I couldn't help make the immediate connection to photography and business.

Just about all of my time and effort goes into carving out a little slice of the photography pie.  I enjoy the challenge and I see small achievements and advances in my career from time to time.  But I do put in considerable effort.  And it suddenly occurred to me that I could very well be accomplishing far more than I realize.

Am I swimming '10 laps' in photography, never realizing that it's twice the distance I believe it to be?  Do I get frustrated that I'm not accomplishing as much as I'd like; only to discover that I've grown surprisingly successful relative to such a short time in the industry?  Do I listen to my heart when it says 'PUSH ON!' after my mind has achieved its predetermined goal of '10 laps'?

Maybe that's where the real magic happens... In that 11th lap when you've followed your heart beyond what you thought you could do.  Maybe that's where the clarity comes and the pieces fall into place and you see that you have achieved far more than you ever realized.

So the question becomes, what is my next '11th lap'?  And the only reasonable answer I can find is when your heart says 'DO IT!'  Listen to that voice.  There's wisdom there.