If your industry had an Olympics would you be a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal winner? Would you be an Olympian medalist at all?
Every four years at this time of the year the world comes together to watch people with extraordinary abilities in each of their specific areas of expertise in summer sports – swimming, gymnastics, track, badminton. ( Did you know badminton is the second most popular sport in the world after soccer? Me neither!) For more surprises, check out all the Olympic sports.
Some of these sports we know well and some we barely know; yet for two weeks everyone seems to be an expert on all of them!
Every Olympian has trained, struggled, worked hard, didn’t work enough, raised money, worked hurt, sacrificed time with family and friends, put off other things and dreams they had to focus entirely on this ONE event – 2016 Summer Olympics.
When they arrived in Rio the slate was clean. It did not matter whatever they had done to get there none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered and the only thing that would win a medal is what happens on the day of the Olympics that they compete.
Each and everyone one of us no matter what our business is – consulting, sales, accounting, legal, technology – is no different than each Olympian we are so in awe of right now. We have worked day and night to learn our business, we have tried and failed and succeeded again and again, our family and friends have missed us too at times, some days we show up 150% and some days we are hardly there.
Yet, we fail to see ourselves in the same light as these amazing athletes or those we admire in our industry, why?
Everyday Olympian Behaviors
There are probably a thousand answers to that that would take us years to know or understand so for today why don’t we focus on what we can do:
- Look for only the good in what we do
- Become our own audience
- Talk to ourselves the way we talk to others we care about
- Practice kindness
- Allow ourselves time
- Cheer for ourselves – celebrate what we do
- Be our own best friend instead of our worst enemy
- The customer is only seeing what you are bringing today….not all the things you have done beforehand….just as we see these Olympians.
So for today let’s bring our Gold medal selves. Wipe the slate clean on whatever you have done right or wrong in the past and for today be an OLYMPIAN!!!!!!!!!……can you hear them playing your national anthem…….I can!
