I've been wanting to do this for months.

Swim laps, that is.

I've loved the water for as long as I can remember.

From swim team to lifeguarding to countless hours floating in the water while the rest of life faded to a muffled background...

I love swimming.

And I almost never do it.

Today, I put on my (newly purchased for this purpose) swimsuit first thing in the morning. I braided my hair. I told myself I was going straight to the pool after dropping LP off at school.

But work called to me. I didn't go swim.

Hours later, there I was, plugging away at my keyboard while half my brain composed a grocery list, and I waited on the dryer to signal the next load was ready to fold.

I used to be obsessed with doing more than one thing at once.

Admittedly, I still fall back into doing more than one thing at a time or what's even worse:

Stressing out and telling myself I'm behind-the-ball because I'm only doing one thing at a time.

"Only" one thing at a time. 🤦‍♀️

Gary Vee and hustle culture would us constantly "grinding" and "maximizing our time."

It's easy to think that doing two (or more!) things at once is maximizing our time, and doing one thing at a time is not doing enough.

But here's what every Nobel prize winning scientist, Pulitzer prize winning author, Grammy winning singer, and Olympian will tell you...

You cannot be really, really good at something unless you focus on it.

Meaningful work stems from deep focus, intention, and presence.

Actually, meaningful anything requires presence and attention.

That's what I love about swimming.

That's also what keeps me from going swimming when my brain gets stuck in that "must do all the things" mode.

I can't do anything else with my body when I'm swimming. Since I make it a practice to count my laps, I can't do anything else with my mental focus either.

It's me, the water, an inhale breath on every fourth stroke, a long, slow exhale in between, and my affirmation-style of lap counting.

One, I am wonderful.

Two, I am tenacious.

Three, I am thriving.

Hustle culture and the task-switching nature of smartphones would have us believe that we must maximize our time by scrambling to do as many things "simultaneously" as possible.

Four, I am fit.

Five, I am alive.

Six, I am strong.

Our brains can get addicted to the false productivity of task switching. (My brain looooves mistaking busy for efficient.)

Our attention spans shrink if we only feed them two-minute videos and "snack-sized" content instead of "hearty meals" that require focus to consume.

Doing one thing at a time starts to feel like a luxury -- when in fact it's the only path to meaningful work, connection to others and self, full-body joy, peace...basically all of life's good stuff.

Seven, I am serene.

Eight, I am easeful.

I swam today.

For 25 minutes, I was alone with myself, my breath, and my amazing body.

Nine, my life is mine.

Everybody has belief systems that get in the way of their best life.

For me, there's one about how I have to cram as much into every minute as possible, regardless of how it drains my energy, diminishes my productivity, and drives everyone around me a bit bonkers.

Everybody is capable of building new belief systems, just like I am, one lap at a time.

Ten, I trust myself.

Eleven, I am evolving.

Jenna Lee "Basically Michael Phelps" Dillon

PS - If you want help uncovering what beliefs have you racking up too much screen time, this slightly sassy 21 Day Challenge is your huckleberry. Sign up, change your life.

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