Hi friend,

I made it.

I swam the length of Lake Lucerne, from Küssnacht to Flüelen. Last time, I told you I was getting in the water, scared, shoulder and all, and I promised I would come back and tell you what it was really like. This is that letter. Plus a gift for you at the end, so you can reach your goal too.

The water was colder than I expected. That set the tone from the first stroke.

We had a funny start. The ramp was so slippery I slid straight down into the water (and no, it did not look cool). Once I was finally in, I had to fight through seagrass for the first 5 meters.

The first 10 kilometers went to finding my rhythm. There is a stretch at the start of every long swim where nothing feels right, and you need to keep going anyway until it does.

The middle was better. My left shoulder, the one that has been hurting for weeks, eased off. And it held. The thing I was most afraid of simply did not happen.

The tips Shannon sent me, the swim coach I told you about, actually worked. I focused hard on technique the whole way, and the shoulder I was dreading stayed quiet. My right elbow started complaining instead, which taught me something I already half knew. My technique is not a long-distance swimmer’s technique (what a surprise). I have no idea how I got across Lake Constance and Lago Maggiore with it. So that is my winter: rebuild the stroke.

The last 10 kilometers were the hardest. I expected a few waves. I did not expect that many. But the far shore kept getting closer. And nine hours and fifty minutes after the first stroke, I touched it. Lake five of the Alpine Seven, done. Two to go.

Back on dry land, something landed that I have not been able to shake.

I swam 32.4 kilometers that day, the length of the lake, and not a meter more. My body had more in it, I am fairly sure of that. But 32.4 was the number I had set myself, and the moment I reached it, my mind said: enough. You reach the number you aimed at, and then you stop.

At Lake Constance, I swam 65 kilometers with the same rough technique I just told you I need to fix. And I made it. Because I had set the goal at 65. My mind was fixed on 65, so 65 is what my body was allowed to give. The number I chose was the real limit, all along.

You cannot control the cold, or the waves. That is the 95%. But the number you set, the goal you decide is possible, is entirely yours. That is the 5%. And it quietly decides how far you get. So set it (much) higher than feels safe. Your mind will meet you there.

This week’s experiment: raise the number.

Take a goal you have set for yourself and look at it honestly. Did you set it to what you actually want, or to what feels safe? Then raise it. Put the number where you truly want to go, not where fear parked it.

But an idea in your head fades by Tuesday. So I built you something to hold it.

A free 12-week journal. Six minutes a day. That is the whole ask. It is made for one kind of person: someone who has already achieved a lot, and still circles the one goal that scares them, the number they have never let themselves say out loud. Twelve weeks is one real training block, long enough to actually move. You set the goal, and you show up to it, six minutes at a time, until the thing you have been circling is finally the thing you are doing.

It is yours, free. Send me the journal (if you want to have the journal in German, just send me a mail).

If this one helped, forward it to someone who needs it today. That's how this grows, one person handing it to the next.

Make 5% your 100%

Bernhard

P.S. Hit reply and tell me the number you are raising this week. I read every one.

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