“I Never Saved Anything For The Swim Back.”

“When your mind says you’re exhausted, fried, totally tapped out, you’re really only 40 percent done. You still have 60 percent left in your tank.” -David Goggins from the book Living With A SEAL by Jesse Itzler

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” -Winnie The Pooh

“So that was the job I had to do when I started,” thought Sam: ‘to help Mr. Frodo to the last step and then die with him? Well, if that is the job then I must do it.” –The Return Of The King by J.R.R. Tolkien

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen the film Gattaca, don’t read any further…(Phenomenal film by the way.)

There’s a scene towards the end where Vincent (played by Ethan Hawke) and his brother Anton (played by Loren Dean) are having an open-water swimming competition. It harkens back to their youth and is sort of a game of chicken.

Beaten by his brother again, Anton asks Vincent his secret to winning the competition. To which Vincent replies:

“I never saved anything for the swim back.”

For whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish, go all out. Give it everything you got. Don’t hold anything back. Because that’s the only way to do it.

And no matter the outcome, at least you know you tried. You really tried.

P.S. –The swimming scene described above.