The 2016 Olympics officially started on August 5, and much of the world is entrenched in the games. While some people watch for the pageantry, the human drama, the patriotism or the actual athletic competition, I believe there is another universal and more useful reason to tune in: to be inspired by others’ achievement.
The human interest stories give us the backdrop. The camera angles and the commentators give us the drama, and the winners provide us with examples of triumph, despite the odds and challenges.
As we watch that achievement, there are many lessons we can apply to the goals we have set and the challenges we face, even if we will never swim in a pool, walk a balance beam or stare down a volleyball screaming toward us at 70 miles per hour. By watching high achievers, we can be inspired to achieve our own goals.
Here are four guidelines Olympians follow to make them the best athletes in the world. Apply them to your own work efforts to help you reach your goals.
Achievers have routines to support their success
The best free throw shooters in basketball have a routine they follow before every free throw, and swimmers, divers and gymnasts also have specific warm-ups they do before each performance. Ever noticed how often world-class performers have their eyes closed at some point in their preparation? When you see that, know they are likely visualizing successful completion. Those routines, no matter how short, set them up for greater success.
Do you have success-based routines that prepare you for a presentation, sales call or other critical work duty? If not, why not?
Achievers focus on themselves, not their competitors
Listen to the interviews after the events are over. In most cases you will hear athletes talking about their performance, including the time they reached or the score they achieved. They aren’t nearly as focused on winning as most people would think. Does that mean they don’t want to win the gold? Of course not. Does it mean they aren’t highly competitive? Not at all. What it means is that world-class performers compete first with themselves. Did they do their best? What could they do to make their performance better? They know intuitively or from experience that the most important competition is internal.
Are you spending too much time worrying about your competition and not enough time focused on your efforts and results?
Achievers have fun achieving
Michael Phelps is known for talking about how much fun he has swimming. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history, was focuses on fun. Have you noticed how many smiles you see on the faces of the competitors after their events, win or lose? High-level achievers like winning and achieving, but they also enjoy the performance itself. It is hard to be dedicated and driven enough to become world class if you don’t find enjoyment in doing the work.
Are you finding the fun in reaching your goals?
Achievers are grateful for their achievements
High achievers realize that while they have to do the work required, they didn’t get to the pinnacle alone. Listen to the interviews of Olympians and you will hear gratitude to families, coaches, teammates, other competitors, fans and more. Gratitude is a powerful and positive emotion that helps reduce stress and provides comfort.
Are you grateful and do you consciously look for ways to be grateful for your situation?
Of course there are other lessons, some perhaps more obvious. After all, if Olympic-sized achievement could be obtained by one attribute or habit, a lot more people would be high achievers. I challenge you to think about one of the lessons above and integrate it into your efforts and habits. The sooner you do that, the faster you will move towards the achievements you desire.
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