Sometimes, just a little bit of wisdom and advice meets you at just the right time. This happened to me, just a couple weeks ago.

It was the penultimate swim of an open-water swimming trip I was on in the Sea of Cortez. Over the last five days, we had swum 5k a day minimum, or the equivalent of two Alcatraz swims a day. It was a lot of swimming, and I was tired. The sun was intense, the sea lice and jellyfish stings were annoying, and it was almost impossible to stay hydrated. 

While some swims had been more relaxed (look at the fishes, swim with the current), this one was not. We had been dropped at the tip of a rocky island, with the wind and waves coming in. Within the coves, it was tough going, but possible. But at the end of each cove meant going around a corner, with clashing tide patterns that wanted to draw you out to sea instead of pulling you into shore. Coming up around the first corner, I was swimming the absolute hardest I had done all week, and was getting nowhere. My fellow swimmers also seemed to be on an ocean treadmill. 

Our swim pilot, Hannah, paddled over to me on her kayak. 

“Hiya,” she said, in her posh English accent. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, no,” I replied in defiant Californian. “I’m not getting anywhere.”

“It’s just 30 strong strokes to get in there, but I can give you a lift?,” she said, offering to tow me around on the rescue buoy. 

I conceded and grabbed on while she seemed to paddle in place, me kicking as hard as I could. 

Still frustrated, and now fully seeing how little progress I was making, I ditched the tow and swam my way around the last corner where there was finally a place to float without getting pulled back out. I flopped over and continued to make my way around the cove. 

At the end of the cove, same story. Tides battling across basalt outcroppings on one side, open ocean on the other. “30 strong strokes,” I thought, Hannah’s voice in my head. 

I set to work with strong arms and strong legs, pulling and attacking the water like it was my job, breathing only when I had to. Pushing as much water past me as I could. 

“23…24…25…26…”

At stroke 27, something shifted and I wasn’t fighting anymore. The water relaxed around me, and I was in the cove. All I needed was that simple tip, that one piece of wisdom at exactly the right time, and I had done something I wasn’t able to do before. The sunburns and jellyfish stings of the week would eventually be forgotten, but I’d always remember what it would take to navigate water like that again.  

When you’re navigating turbulent waters at work, expert advice doesn’t usually come floating up to you in a kayak. Wisdom and insight are often a little more subtle, more nuanced, and probably surface when you’re not exactly looking for them.

Beyond being open to feedback and wisdom, you’ve got to be open to taking help when it’s offered. In conducting interviews for my next book, I’ve heard so much about how people’s trauma responses inform how they react to difficulty at work. Game recognize game. For me, being one of those “gifted kids” who spent a lot of time alone and was validated and praised when I was independent and solved things myself, I internalized that asking for help was a sign of weakness. What’s more, when I get backed into a corner, I’ll shut down and defensively say, “I’ll handle it.” It’s not great. I usually find myself in situations where I actually do need help, expertise, or someone to just take on some of whatever burden I’m facing. I’ll suffer and simmer.

It’s hard, I’m working on it. 

I know you’re working on stuff too. We all are. But if we can be open to listening and taking advice (or saving it for later), we can gather little nuggets of wisdom that serve us. Beyond that, we can unlock abilities we didn’t even know we had: like swimming around thrashy rocks and into welcome coves. 

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Ready to learn more? There are still spots available for the workshop next week:
Making it Work: Strategic Storytelling & Relationship Building for Jobs & Beyond.

May 19, 2026 | 4–5:30PM PDT | $299 | One day only

Josh Silverman (designer of Good Job) and I will be hosting a small-group workshop all about connections, storytelling, and damn good advice.

maven.com/mynameisjoshsilverman/makingitwork

And because you're on this list: use code LIGHTNING at checkout for $50 off. That's $249 for you.

Hope to see you there.
margo