I didn’t go to pool parties growing up. I’m Canadian. My friends threw ice skating parties, and every northern child had a pair or two of skates hanging up in their garage. I never learned to swim. The closest I get to ankle-deep water is my bath tub.

So in an effort to better myself, I signed up for adult swimming classes this past fall at the only place in the Huntsville area that accepts adult non-swimmers.

Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did.”

Oftentimes I find myself falling into the terrible habit of failing to challenge myself. Maybe it’s because I’m comfortable with where I am, but if we’re not growing, we might as well be going backwards.

Do you right-click the red squiggly lines under misspelled words on Word documents to auto-correct it? Or do you take a moment to think about the fact that “a lot” is two words?

Do you neglect studying for an exam when you know the professor’s multiple choice question tests always have the same answer: all of the above? Or do you look over your notes anyway in hopes you’ll learn something you didn’t know before?

Do you walk the same distance on the treadmill every single day because that’s all you’ve been accustomed to? Or do you sprint for a minute at a time, or put the machine on a higher incline to give yourself a better workout?

When you don’t challenge yourself, you’re accepting that you know enough-that you can learn it another time. But when you enter the workforce, competing applicants who are going out for the same job you are will be more qualified for a position because you lack the ambition to challenge yourself and add more skills to your qualifications.

I challenged myself to read a book for pleasure each month this year. It’s March, and I’m already one book behind.

Isaac Newton challenged mathematical theories and became the father of modern science. Henry Ford challenged the workforce and gave us assembly lines. Alexander Graham Bell challenged communication systems for the deaf, and stumbled into the invention of the telephone.

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up,” Babe Ruth once said. You may not become a billionaire creating a product as simple as the Snuggie, or even change the world for that matter. But challenge yourself, and you might find personal growth to be just as satisfying.