Ross Edgley is the first man to swim around the island of Great Britain, and he describes the preparation and the process of it all in his book The Art of Resilience.

This book is not only about the various and numerous challenges, adversities and obstacles Ross had to overcome – read: being bruised, bleeding, hurting, freezing, exhausted, fearing, missing – only to name a few… This book is also about his knowledge about sports in general and his attitudes towards all of this (and more) in detail. When you’re following some things that I have shared here before, you know that parts of Stoic philosophy resonate very well with me. I caught myself various times while reading The Art of Resilience thinking that Ross is witing EXACTLY what I think about the combination of sport science, sport psychology and Stoicism.

I am sure, Ross Edgley might be seen as crazy by some people. But I think, that he just perfected the preparation needed to deliver excellent performances. Excellent performances that might be World Records in the domain of extreme sports only few people on earth are capable of pursuing. Nonetheless, I am convinced that we all – and especially athletes that we might be working with – can benefit from his attitudes and his approaches to preparing for, performing and finally reflecting on their performances in whatever sport they compete in.

We as human beings limit ourselves more than enough by not believing in our abilties. Some people show us, that we can do more. Roger Bannister did, by running 3:49,4 on one mile in 1954. Eddie Hall did, by being the first man to deadlift 500kg in 2016. Ross Edgley did, by swimming around Great Britain in 157 days in 2018. Nirmal Purja did, by summiting 14 peaks higher than 8,000m in less than 7 months in 2019.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying we all should be like Roger, Eddie, Ross, Nirmal or other extreme athletes. I don’t. They pay high prices for their performances and results (read: records). However, I believe that we can learn from all of them. In this case, we all can learn from Ross. From his positivity. His belief. His knowledge. His attitude. His ambition. His desire. His passion.

I’m frequently getting goosebumps when imagining what it might be like during his quests, and especiall when joining him by watching some of the videos about his adventures – and I hope you (and maybe even your clients) can relate here.

If you are more attuned to videos, you can also watch instead of read the Great British Swim. Or you can also watch him setting a new world record for the longest swim ever in Against the Loch. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading The Art of Resilience, which helped me understand him and other athletes better.