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Why Did Ross Edgley Picture His Dad in Heaven?

Ross Edgley fueled the swim around Iceland by picturing his dad in heaven, a tennis coach looking down and telling everyone else that the swimmer circling Iceland was his. The image gave Ross goosebumps, felt primitive, and got him through dark times. Even now, he said, the thought could send him another hundred miles.

Ross lost his dad four years before the conversation. His dad had been his mentor and his coach. Ross was becoming a dad and was trying to get back from the Iceland swim for the birth of his son. In the book he wrote about Iceland, he wanted the swim to stand as a tribute to everything his dad taught him and as a letter to his future son. In the water he imagined his dad on a tennis court in the sky, looking down and saying, yeah, that one right there, swimming around Iceland, that one's mine.

Andrew Huberman ties the same pull to a finish line he had heard Ross describe. Ross is running, exhausted, then sees his son and suddenly has a jetpack on, with no caffeine and no injection of saline. A different cute baby at the line would probably not have the same effect. Huberman says the me piece matters, and the affiliative us across generations is the most potent fuel in the universe.

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Unlocking Persistent Motivation & Extreme Resilience | Ross Edgley ·

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  4. Why Did Ross Edgley Rush the Iceland Swim?Ross Edgley rushed the finish in Iceland because his first child was due in a week's time and he feared missing the birth.
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