He Dances to his Own Tune

I was asked recently by one of my clients who was the most charismatic man that I currently know and why. I said besides my husband, who always has a twinkle in his eye and enthusiasm for life, there is one gentleman I currently know who would claim that title. He asked me to describe what it was about this person that was so magnetic and special.

I started laughing at the thought of my friend Bill who is one of the swimmers that I see on a regular basis. I met him the first day that I started which happened to be his first day too. I’ve seen him develop into a very strong swimmer over the course of the last few months. He works hard every day and is one of the top swimmers on our team.

First of all, his dedication to his goal of swimming is unmatched. There isn’t any other person besides one woman, Nikki, (who happens to have 4 kids!) who can claim at being at as many practices. I’m not exactly sure what he does professionally, but I do know that he is very successful. That is no surprise because of his strong work ethic.

What is so impressive about him is his attitude. He’s serious when he needs to be and works hard at becoming the best. Because he pushes himself, he automatically pushes others. Then when the hard sets are done, he congratulates others and jokes around a bit.

One day I was walking with him after practice to the locker rooms. It was around 7am. We were in the middle of a discussion and all of the sudden, the music of Gloria Estefan captured his attention and he started dancing to the beat of the music. He got so caught up in the moment of his own private dance that he completely knocked me off my feet and I erupted into an uncontrollable belly laugh.

I’ve remembered and laughed at that dance since then more than once. It may have not been so funny, but at 7 o’clock in the morning, and watching a 35+ year old man dance in his Speedo in the middle of a hallway by himself, now THAT’S funny! What I liked and admired about that was his ability to be playful and to not be intimidated by the situation around him. He felt like dancing so he danced. He didn’t mind who may have been watching, he just wanted to celebrate the music in his own way.

I don’t know many people who could actually carry that off and be so entertaining instead of looking ridiculous. But Bill is the type of guy that gains his respect first so he can act any ol’ way he wants to and it’s fine.

So take a minute and think about someone you know? What is it that makes them charismatic? It doesn’t have to be their intelligence, their good looks or their money or power that makes them this way. It can be one silly moment, of someone dancing to their own tune.