Can You Change Your Life? Yes, you can. Can swimming help with that? Absolutely. Once again, we meet a living example of how inspiring an adventure with this physical activity can be. Another feature in the "Swimmers at Work" series brings us to Marek Bądkowski – a manager and businessman who has experienced it firsthand.
Swimming is an Adventure
Was your adventure with swimming a coincidence or a conscious decision?
That’s a good and at the same time difficult question because, honestly, I don’t know. When I was deciding to leave work due to illness, my kids were taking swimming lessons with coach Jacek Stobieniecki – they swam while I sat on the sidelines. I started wondering why I was just sitting there and waiting when everyone in the water looked so happy! So, on the one hand, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but on the other hand, it triggered a thought process.
However, it certainly wasn’t random – in the sense that it was exactly what I needed. Looking back, I can confidently say that. This discipline entered my life, took root, and, through a chain reaction, brought about a series of positive changes.
It’s truly amazing, and I’ve experienced firsthand that sometimes the answer to a life crisis can be to “dive” into a passion and allow it to bring about a little revolution. It requires both discipline and a certain humility, a healthy willingness to let go.
How Does Swimming Help in Work?
What field did you study? What do you currently do? Does swimming help with it?
I work in management and production engineering, mostly in the field of plastics and their applications in household appliances. I focus on using recycled materials, known as regranulates, closing production cycles, and developing technologies that help companies in today’s competitive landscape. On one hand, environmental regulations are becoming increasingly strict, which is entirely right and necessary. On the other hand, you need to innovate and find your own path – especially when competing with eastern markets that face far fewer restrictions. This field may seem static or even dull, but there’s actually a lot happening here.
Does swimming help me in this work? I think it would help me in any job. Generally, all activities that build something far more important than motivation – discipline – are incredibly valuable. The ability to set goals and achieve them, to confront and work through your weaknesses rather than denying them, significantly enhances daily life. And, of course, work as well.
Swimming teaches you to draw out your full potential, and once you learn this, it resonates across all areas of life. Swimming also helped me discover ideas for projects that truly resonate with me. I’m particularly thinking about the roof tent brand, Hartenz, that I’m now launching. It’s something born from a completely natural need, one that – as it turns out – many others share. These are people walking a similar path, with a similar approach to travel and connecting with nature.
Swimming for Health...
What does this phrase mean to you?
For me, it’s primarily about developing self-awareness. Confronting weaknesses and working on them, discovering your strengths, and learning to use them to their fullest potential when you need them. Listening to your body and interpreting the signals it sends. Interestingly, many performance crises or potential injuries can be predicted and prevented this way.
It’s truly an engrossing journey into yourself – both physically and mentally, even psychologically.
If you were to convince yourself to start swimming, what arguments would you use?
I’d probably just repeat my answer to the previous question. Fitness, endurance, physique, results, and the satisfaction that comes with them – all of that is, of course, important, positive, and very motivating, but… Before my swimming journey, I never expected how much it would change me mentally. It taught me to approach life’s obstacles as goals or challenges, rather than “problems.” It helped me operate at a higher level, understand myself better, and see how this would translate into every aspect of my life – personal, family, and professional. Specifically, even in individual relationships with people.
I believe that everyone needs “something” – a hobby or passion that they can dive into; something that will present a series of challenges and force them to confront their own demons and weaknesses. If you commit to it strongly enough, what happens next is pure magic.
