Attack the Process

Welcome back to Newman NewWoman NewWeek. I’m Ben Newman, and I am fired up to be with you today to tell you about my kids. Now, you’re probably wondering, “Ben’s kids? Why is he going to talk to us about his kids?” Here is the reason why I want to talk to you about Isaac and Kennedy Rose.

Basics of Attacking the Process

I recently was at one of their swimming lessons, and I thought to myself, Isn’t this interesting? Talk about process. Talk about your fears. Talk about a commitment to new learning for you, new learning for my children.

You know, when they were born, they didn’t know how to swim. You know, at one point in time, you get acclimated by, you get yourself wet, you get into the pool, you start to feel the water, you start to see if you like it. And then you start exposing your kids to swim lessons. People who can actually teach people how to swim.

Well, obviously you know, I coach professional athletes, top business professionals. I believe in coaching, so I think it’s awesome that my wife went out and found swim instructors for our kids from when they were tiny, tiny, tiny. But I was recently at these swimming lessons, looking at my daughter, who at one point in time, if you would have thrown her in the water, she would have known nothing. She wouldn’t have known anything. She couldn’t have swam.

And now, she’s swimming. She’s taking strokes. The instructor is letting her go. She’s putting her head up. She’s breathing. I’m smiling. And just the other day, it finally hit me: Isn’t that amazing?

And, you know what? My daughter at almost five years old, Kennedy Rose is getting out of the pool going, “Dad, it was the process. I’m attacking the process.” But you know what? That’s what it is. For you in your life, it’s about attacking the process. Even on the days when you don’t want to do it. If when you first start doing it, it feels uncomfortable, it doesn’t feel right, you have to just keep trying, keep getting your feet wet over and over and over again.

Now, my kids, they now swim at the exact same time. These 9:30 lessons. So I look at Kennedy. She’s doing these breaths. And then I look at Isaac. He’s almost seven now. And I am so proud of his swimming. It is truly incredible. As much as he tries to fight us to go to swim lessons, once he gets there – I mean, the kid’s a better swimmer than me.

I mean, it is literally, he’s swimming and he’s taking his breaths, and he’s fast, and he loves it. And every time he picks his head up, you know I’m an emotional guy, I cry when I watch extreme home makeovers, this is going to make me emotional. But he picks his head up and he looks over to see me, and he gives me a thumbs up, and he smiles.

So here is the moral of the story for you. Do you need to get your feet wet? Do you need to just move forward? Forget about what the results are going to be; just attack the process. Make yourself uncomfortable.

One of my great mentors, Dr. Jason Salk, always tells me, “Making yourself uncomfortable speeds up the process of mental toughness.” My kids, yeah, they were uncomfortable. Now they can swim. And guess what? They’re going to keep getting better. And it’s the same for you in your life.

• Just get your feet wet.
• Dive all in
• Identify the process
• Attack the process

Make yourself uncomfortable, and you’ll continue to improve!

Attack the Process Episode 75