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Olympics come and go. As always, it is
an exciting event with its dramatic twists and turns,
exhilarations, surprises, and disappointments as these great
athletes performed at their peak in front of millions, if not
billions, of fans for the glory of representing their country
and possibly receiving a gold medal.
You, too, can experience the same excitement in your life.
What are you doing now to achieve your “goal” medal?
What are you doing to realize your goals in life?
You don’t need to be a world class athlete to achieve
success in life. However, you can use many of the same
techniques that these athletes use to accomplish their goals.
The following are five tips that will help you stand on the
winner’s platform in life:
1. Create Passion with Goal Setting
Take time to write down the goals that excite you. Ask
yourself the following questions:
* How will I feel when I achieve these goals?
* What is keeping me from achieving these goals today?
* What are the times and dates I want to achieve these
goals?
* What resources do I need to accomplish these goals?
* What is my plan B, or secondary route, to achieving these
goals?
2. Believe in Greatness
Once you have created your goals, take time to visualize
your achievements. World class athletes visualize the
victory before it happens. Take 15-30 minutes just before
you go to bed or wake up in the morning and do the
following:
* Find a quiet place.
* Quiet your mind, slowing down your breathing.
* Visualize that you are already achieving whatever goal you
want to accomplish. What does it look like? How does it
feel?
World class athletes prepare themselves yesterday, today,
and tomorrow for success through intense training and
sacrifice. What are you doing to prepare yourself for your
success? Do a self-analysis to find out how prepared you
are today in relationship to your goals and what resources
and skills you need to acquire to achieve your goals. What
sacrifices are you willing to make so that you can achieve
your goals? If it is a promotion, find out what skills,
education, and resources are required to obtain that position.
If it is a six-figure income, what sacrifices are you willing to
make to realize it? Less television, more education?
I always say, “If you want something bad enough, act like
you already have it.” That’s what champions do. They
already believe that they will win a championship, a title, a
gold medal. They have a positive, self-expecting attitude
and set the bar for others to try to aspire.
I love tennis. One of my favorite tennis players is Roger
Federer, the #1 ranked player in the world. When watching
him play, I can see he owns the court. In his quiet, yet
confident manner, he says to his opponent, “I am #1, I am
the best!” Then he goes out and wins. With his positive
attitude, he expects to win every time.
How can you apply this principle? Well, one example is if
you are a manager and want to be promoted to vice
president, act like a vice president today. That means
dressing like a vice president, making decisions like a vice
president, leading people like a vice president, etc. Also
what it means is delegating certain tasks so that you can
learn the required skills of a vice president (Read Delegate to
Accelerate Success). Do you expect to succeed at any
project with which you are involved?
3. Create a Mastermind Group
There is a saying, “A wise person learns from his own
mistakes, a wiser person learns from other people’s
mistakes.” That is what a mastermind group will do for you.
Winning athletes have a mastermind group so that they will
make fewer mistakes and take less time achieving their goals.
A mastermind group is an assortment of people dedicated to
give you the best advice, feedback, training, etc., so that you
can achieve your goals faster. The mastermind group also
gives you encouragement when needed. In sports, this
might be a coach, a trainer, a physical trainer, manager, and
agent. In your situation at work, it might be the following:
* A mentor that has intensive corporate knowledge and can
maneuver you around “corporate landmines”
* A human resources specialist with thorough knowledge of
skills needed for a promotion
* A manager that wants to showcase your skills to impress
their manager
*If you are thinking about or have already started a business,
it might be the following:
* Lawyer(s)
* Accountant
* Tax expert
* Business associate in non competing field
* Retired executive
* Association leaders
* Customers
Note: Be very careful about whom you allow in your
mastermind group. Ask yourself, “Who can help me achieve
my goals through skills, knowledge, and honest feedback?”
Honest feedback is the key. You don’t want “yes” people
around you; you want people that will give you positive
feedback that will set you back on course for success.
4. Embrace Challenges
World class athletes embrace all challenges as a way for
them to move to the next level. They have a “bring it on”
attitude and you can see it in their eyes. They realize that the
spotlight is on them and they relish it. They are bold in their
actions and are not afraid of making mistakes. If they make a
mistake or have a defeat, they “own” them. What I mean by
“owning their mistakes” is that they say, “I made the
mistakes today,” or “I didn’t play to my full potential today.”
By taking ownership of their mistakes they take ownership
for their actions. By taking ownership of their actions, they
take ownership for improving their performance. They take
time to learn from any setback.
What challenges are waiting for you at work? How can you
improve your community by taking a leadership role? What
challenges await you at home? Face them, embrace them,
learn from them, and grow with them.
5. Don’t Ever Give Up!
H. Ross Perot, the billionaire businessperson and pass
presidential candidate said the following:
“Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve
success, they give up at the last minute of the game, one
foot from a winning touchdown.”
How many times have we seen people overcome
insurmountable odds to succeed? In sports, the 2003-04
Detroit Pistons won the NBA championship against the
mighty Los Angeles Lakers. The underdog Villanova
University basketball team won the NCAA College
Basketball championship against powerful Georgetown
University.
There’s the story of Gaston Gaudio. Many of you may be
asking, “Who is Gaston Gaudio?” Well, he is a 25-year-old
tennis player from Argentina who turned pro in 1996. During
that time he had, at best, what would be called mediocre
results. Going into February of this year, he had a losing
record on the tour. Because he wasn’t winning, he barely
earned enough money to get to the next tournament. He
asked friends in towns in which he was playing if he could
sleep on their floors.
He had thoughts of giving up and going back to Argentina
but he fought these off and wouldn’t give up. He believed
that better things would happen. He earned a wildcard to
play in one of the four biggest tennis tournaments in the
world, the French Open.
Then a funny thing happened. He started to win against the
best players in the world. He won his way into the
championship match. He was to face one of the hottest
tennis players and fellow Argentinean in Guillermo Coria, the
#3 ranked player in the world. Let’s say Gaston was not
expected to win, much less be competitive.
The match started as expected with Gaston on the losing
end, 0-6 and 3-6. Even the television commentators
suggested that Gaston quit playing, stop embarrassing
himself against Guillermo, and call it quits. But Gaston
wouldn’t give up. Guess what? Gaston started winning
games against Guillermo. He wouldn’t give up. He believed
he could win more games…and he did. Then the incredible
happened…he won the French Open.
Gaston, just a month earlier didn’t have enough money to
stay in hotels, took home a $1 million paycheck and the
tennis world took notice. He won because he believed,
persevered, and wouldn’t give up.
Do you believe in yourself, your goals, enough to defeat any
obstacle that may get in the way of your success? Take a
hard look at your goals and say, as Gaston did, “I believe in
myself and my goals. They are worthy of my efforts. No
matter what the naysayers say, no matter what obstacles get
in the way, I will not give up!”
Start today. Apply these tips and you too can have a “goal”
medal life!