I’m not the most athletic person in the world.

I hear you….What you 7-time World Marathon Swimming World Champ…you’re kidding yourself aren’t you Shelley!

Now before you fall on the floor in shock and horror….hang in here with me…because there is a valuable lesson to achieving your goals and creating 100% self belief along the way so your self esteem soars too on your journey.

You see as a child, I grew up being told that I had no natural ability, was disabled and had nothing above average…yes me!

Growing up, you’d find me anywhere and everywhere participating on the sports field at lunch-times and after school and on Saturday mornings in the inter-school sports carnivals.

When it came to doing the mandatory athletics day, I’d somehow work my way into participating in the long distance events as I was simply hopeless at sprints events….I mean someone took them out of my Weeties box.

Now retired from competitive marathon swimming 10 years…(and people keep asking me, as early as only yesterday at the pool, “are you still competing Shelley?”)

and… I know I no longer have youth on my side – I am 47yrs young….so if I want to be able to keep living the Champion life that I love with all the passion and purpose like a 20yr old, then I need to do something new.

So if you come into the Manly Surf Club gym on most mornings, you’ll see me there. And you may even hear me complaining to my buddys during my twice-weekly workouts “I can’t lift another thing” or “It’s buuuuuuurning!!!!” This is all getting way too hard”.

If I had my way, I’d continue to swim every day ….and that would be really easy for me to do. I would even continue my lovely beach walks every other day. I’d do the things I was most comfortable with and leave the rest til another day – when I felt like it.

Yet every time I walk into the Manly Surf Club gym, I hear those men’s words ringing in my ears as I struggle and those days when it is all too much and I feel like giving up. ‘C’mon Shell …what are you always telling us….You saved the best one for last…..You’re the Best…Forget the Rest! When the going gets tough…the tough get going!”

Buggar they were listening to me all these years!

But it’s that – that makes all the difference.

And you know what? I would not have it any other way.

So often in life we want the reward but we don’t want to do the extra that will get us there. We want to stay in our comfort zone but we want more as well. When we decide to step out and do ‘just one more’, we begin our journey to the next level.

We each have our own cheering squad - listen to those who want what’s best for you and encourage you to move towards your goals. You may find you can do ‘just one more’ and it’s that which will make all the difference.

Decide today what ‘just one more’ you will commit to and what difference it will make.

“We often don’t know what we’re capable of - until we go beyond what we think we can do”.

Go for Gold!
Cheers Shelley