06/26/2026
Me on Saturday: Grocery shopping
Bernhard Hengl on Saturday: Solo swimming 66km across Lago Maggiore.
We are OBVIOUSLY not the same.
But what makes his story different from every other "I did a crazy hard thing" story:
18 months before swimming Lake Constance, his longest open water swim was 2.5 km.
- Cancer survivor
- Full-time manager
- Father of five
He didn't train 100km a week like the pros.
He trained one hour a day, mostly before 8am.
What actually changed everything wasn't the training. It was a goal he set while lying in bed during chemo, curtains closed on a hot April day, too sick to move.
Win his 10th water polo title.
Doctors thought he was crazy. He thought it was the only logical thing to do.
Here's what he figured out:
→ The goal has to come from you.
→ Give the treatments to the doctors. Give your mind something else entirely.
→ The night you're most afraid of becomes the most meditative thing you've ever done.
→ Identity crisis after survival is real. Finding yourself again changes everything.
He won the title 18 months later.
His rule: "If you have a strong enough why, the hard thing becomes a by product."
Full pod out now - https://lnkd.in/eyBX7HgQ