In July, 2000, Fast Company published an article entitled "Unleashing the Ideavirus" by Seth Godin. In it, Godin introduced the concept of "viral marketing" which has since become…viral. Godin wrote that an Ideavirus is an idea that influences everyone it touches and prompts them to tell others about it. TI has been the best example of an Ideavirus in swimming.

I’ve since bought a half-dozen of his books, and received one as a gift from my friend, and fellow Godin fan, photographer G. Steve Jordan. Steve sent me a link to Godin’s blog, posted today, entitled Beauty as a Signaling Strategy. He writes in part:

"What’s beauty? You know it when you see it, sure, but what is it? It turns out that beauty is an important evolutionary byproduct…
"An organism needs to invest energy in being beautiful. You won’t see healthy skin on a sick animal, because maintaining a healthy coat is too ‘expensive’. A sick peacock isn’t as spectacular as a healthy one. As a result, most creatures evolved their definitions of beauty in a mate to match the displays of healthy creatures…
"Stop for a minute and think about the relationship between expense and beauty."

Godin is writing about marketing and the value of investing more in design.
But when I read it, my thoughts go (where they always go) to the "expense" of learning a beautiful swim stroke. Not the cost of a DVD or lessons, but the patience and mindfulness one must invest to transform struggles into skills.
In the early stages of stroke development, the progress you make will often be recognized – and sometimes complimented – by others. But later, the energy you put into increasing grace and flow may produce changes too subtle to be recognized by even the keenest eye. At that point, you’ll be doing it mainly to produce an inner beauty. But the energy you invest is entirely renewable, created anew by the satisfaction of your ever-improving (Kaizen) swimming.