There are many reasons why I was never more than an average athlete in my high school athletic career. My best sport was golf and I was part of a team that finished 9th in state my junior year. While I had the physical skills to play beyond high school, the biggest obstacle was between my ears. I never found a way to consistently bounce back mentally or emotionally from poor (or even mediocre) competitive performances and live to fight another day.
As I’ve watched the Olympics over the past week, I’ve observed that these world-class athletes obviously differ from me in that mental discipline when it comes to athletics. I was most impressed with a tweet by American skier Mikaela Shiffrin over the weekend. After winning gold in one race, she didn’t perform well in the next event that she was heavily favored in, and didn’t medal. She responded publicly with a series of tweets, where she concluded, “That is real. That is life. It’s amazing and terrifying and wonderful and brutal and exciting and nerve racking and beautiful. And honestly, I’m just so grateful to be a part of that.”
Sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it?
All that Ms. Shiffrin expressed is reflected in simply living life and building our businesses, careers, and relationships – It’s amazing and terrifying and wonderful and brutal and exciting and nerve racking and beautiful. The final piece is accepting all of that and then being genuinely grateful to be a part of it!
We all deal with crisis and adversity in every aspect of our life, sometimes daily. Why not join me in taking a lesson from an Olympic champion and practicing the discipline of being grateful to just be a part of it? It’s the quickest path to winning gold medals in your life.
Quote of the Week:
“Little minds are tamed by and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.”
~ Washington Irving (American writer)
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