What I Learned From Swimming (That Has Nothing to Do with Swimming) 🏊🏽

Issue #119: How Swimming Taught Me About Growth, Fear, and Pushing Limits in Life. Stop Typing the Same Stuff Over and Over. My Rule to Beat Procrastination.

Welcome to Learn + Grow, where you will learn tips and tools that will help you be 3% more peaceful + productive in just 3 minutes a week.

🔔 Quick reminder: If you are a founder (or want to be), check out my Peaceful Growth newsletter, where I share actionable tips to grow your business to $ 10M without working crazy hours.

💡 Here are 3-ideas to help you learn, grow, and be inspired this week!

🎓 Learn

Milkha Singh almost gave up.

It was 1951. He had just joined the Indian Army. He had never run professionally before. One day, his officer spotted him and told him to run a 400-meter race.

He lost. Badly.

Exhausted and humiliated, he thought about quitting. But his officer had one thing to say:

“Come back tomorrow.”

Milkha did.

Day after day, he trained. He kept showing up. A few years later, he became one of India’s greatest athletes—winning gold at the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, and earning the title "The Flying Sikh."

(Spoiler: Life rewards those who just keep showing up.)

I’m no Milkha Singh, but I know what it feels like to start something new and struggle.

I started learning to swim at 32.

At first, it felt awkward. Everyone else in the learning in the pool was either a kid or a teenager, moving through the water with ease while I flailed like a drowning cat. (Not my proudest moment.)

Over the last 7 years, I’ve put in 52 hours of practice in the water—on and off, scattered across different years. Some weeks I made progress. Some weeks I felt stuck. But I kept showing up.

And that’s when I realized something: Swimming isn’t just about moving through water.

It’s about moving through life.

Here’s what I learned from swimming that has nothing to do with swimming.

---

1. Start Now, Waiting Won’t Help

I started learning to swim at 32.

I showed up to my first swim and looked around.

Everyone else?

Kids. High schoolers.

For a second, I felt out of place. Like I had missed my chance. But here’s the thing: There is no "right time." There’s only now.

(You either start today or look back a year from now wishing you had.)

---

2. Learning Is Messy—And That’s Okay

I started in 2019. Stopped. Started again in 2020. Stopped. Tried again in 2022 and 2024.

Progress?

It was all over the place.

Some days, I felt unstoppable. Other days, I was back to swallowing water like a malfunctioning fountain.

Trust the process, not the clock.

Progress doesn’t follow a schedule. Some days you improve fast. Some days you don’t. But if you stick with it long enough, the breakthroughs come.

---

3. Breakthroughs Require Breaking Free

For weeks, I clung to the pool's edge.

It felt safe. Secure.

But at some point, I had to let go. That first moment of floating alone? Terrifying. But also necessary.

Fear fades with repetition.

At first, water felt intimidating. But the more I showed up, the more comfortable I became.

Fear works the same way in life.

---

4. Focus on Milestones, Not the Finish Line

At first, I thought swimming was just one skill.

Stay afloat. Move your hands. Kick your feet.

Simple, right?

Not even close.

Over time, I realized swimming is actually a collection of tiny actions working together:

• Breathing – Inhale, hold, exhale underwater, and time it right.

• Kicking – Smooth, controlled movements—not wild splashes.

• Floating – Learning to trust the water and let your body stay up.

• Crawling – Coordinating movement without panicking.

• Armstrokes – The rhythm of catching and pulling water.

Instead of trying to master everything at once, I broke it down.

One thing at a time.

First, I learned to float. Then, I nailed my breathing. Then, I moved on to kicking. Then, armstrokes.

Finally, I put it all together... and I was swimming.

Turns out, that’s how you learn anything.

---

5. Failure Is Just a Ripple

I swallowed water. Flailed. Panicked.

It felt like failure. But the truth?

It was just part of learning.

Failure isn’t a stop sign. It’s a speed bump. You adjust, keep moving, and try again.

One day, I just swam without overthinking.

That’s when I realized: Your body knows before your mind does.

Sometimes, you have to let go of logic and trust muscle memory.

---

6. Your Mind Is the Only Thing in Your Way

Half the battle was mental.

Doubt. Hesitation. Overthinking.

That’s what held me back—not the water.

And it’s the same with anything challenging in life.

We talk ourselves out of things long before reality does. But the moment you decide to push through, something changes.

Your mind stops working against you.

And suddenly, the impossible feels possible.

---

7. The Guide Appears When You’re Ready

Ever notice how the right book, mentor, or advice shows up exactly when you need it?

That’s not luck.

That’s your brain filtering out what it wasn’t ready for before.

Last year, I hit a plateau.

I could comfortably swim 25 yards. The only problem? I was still holding onto a kickboard—barely using it, but still relying on it.

My goal was clear: Swim without support.

But for months, I kept gripping that kickboard. Just in case.

Then, one day, a swim instructor looked at me and said,
"Anil, if you really want to learn to swim, you need to let go."

I hesitated.

Then, finally, I did.

It was terrifying. But that day, for the first time, I swam without support.

- Growth is uncomfortable but necessary.
- Holding on feels safe, but it holds you back.
- Letting go is the only way to move forward.

That’s how progress works.

---

Your Turn

“But what if I suck at it?”

Good news: Everyone sucks at first.

I sucked. Milkha sucked when he started. Everyone does. But the only way to not suck? Keep going.

You don’t have to be great to start.

You just have to start.

What’s the thing you’ve been putting off?

Starting a business? Writing a book? Learning a new skill?

Jump in.

You’ll struggle. You’ll fail. But if you keep showing up, something amazing happens:

One day, without even realizing it...

You’re swimming.

🚀 Growth Tip

How many times do you type your phone number, email, address, or passport info every week?

Filling out a form?
Signing up for something?
Ordering online?

It adds up—hours wasted every year on repeat typing, typos, and endless copy-pasting.

I fixed this with Text Replacement on my phone. Now, I just type:

• mynum → Pastes my phone number

• myemail → Drops in my email

• myaddy → Fills my address

• ppnum → Auto-fills my passport number

No more scrolling. No more mistakes. No more wasted time.

Set it up in 3 minutes:
🔹 iPhone/Mac: Settings → Keyboard → Text Replacement
🔹 Android: Gboard → Dictionary → Personal Dictionary

Small tweak. Big time saver. Try it.

🤩 Inspiration

[On a different note, here’s something I’m excited to share to help you boost your productivity and performance through better writing in 2025]

How Samir, an Engineer, Transformed His Career with One Skill

Samir wasn’t a writer. He was a software engineer, great at building things but struggled when it came to explaining ideas, pitching projects, or sharing updates.

After being passed over for a promotion, he realized something: It wasn’t his technical skills holding him back—it was his writing.

He signed up for a copywriting course, thinking it would help him write better emails. (It did that and more.)

In a few months, Samir’s emails were clear and persuasive. His project proposals got approved faster. He became the go-to person for internal presentations. And, yes—he finally got that promotion.

Why? Because writing is a meta-skill.

Whether you’re an engineer, designer, accountant, or manager, writing impacts everything. Emails, reports, pitches, presentations—good writing makes you more productive, more effective, and more valuable.

Here’s the good news: WRITING IS A SKILL. You don’t “have it”, you learn it.

If you can improve only one skill in 2025, make it writing.

I’ve spent over $5,000 on different writing courses, and out of all of them, I highly recommend CopyThat—an email-based copywriting course you can complete in just 30 minutes a day for 10 days.

✍🏻 Check it out here: CopyThat

👋 Until next time, Anil / CEO and Co-Founder of Multidots, Multicollab, and Dotstore.

May the Peaceful Growth be with you! 🪴

More Ways to Learn + Grow

#1: Are you a founder (or dreaming of becoming one)? If you want actionable strategies to scale your agency to $10M, give Peaceful Growth a read.

#2: Work with WordPress or build on it? Check out WP for Enterprises —your backstage pass to how BILLION-DOLLAR websites run.

#3: I’ve sat down with founders who’ve grown their businesses from $500K to $10M. Want their playbook? Listen to the Peaceful Growth Podcast for insider tips on scaling up.