Olympic Lessons

Have you been enjoying the Winter Olympics this week? I sure have! I love the competition, the excitement, and learning about the different athletes and the road they’ve taken to get to Vancouver.

Watching the games, I can’t help but compare the athletes with their dreams, personal struggles, disappointments, tremendous work ethic, and tenacity to Entrepreneurs and the path so many of us walk to reach our goals and make our dreams come true.

Like these athletes, we face challenges on our own roads to Gold. Who among us has not had a bad run down the course? Or crashed and burned on our way to the next pin level? Or laid in bed night after night visualizing ourselves on stage, giving our speech, seeing our team out in the audience, cheering on the next wave of leadership close on our heels?

I loved learning about how downhill skier Julie Mancuso drew a picture when she was six years old of herself winning an Olympic Medal — and hung it on her bedroom wall. Talk about the power of visualization! Her vision board hung there year after year after year, reminding her of why she sacrificed going out with friends and having a “normal” teenage life. Her dream was far more important than the instant gratification of a Saturday night party or hanging out with friends. Her why was so big, nothing could get in her way.

Lindsay Vonn expressed similar sentiments in her interview after learning she took Gold in the women’s downhill. Through her tears, she shared how much pain she’d been in, how much she’d given up to get where she was, how winning Gold meant everything to her, how she had to push herself past the pain in order to do what she did, and how winning Gold meant what she had sacrificed to get the Gold was not in vain.

The journey to the top is never easy, nor is it handed to anyone. Olympic athletes prove that again and again. So do successful Entrepreneurs. There are no givens. A course we believe we know like the back of our hands can be bumpier than we thought…and throw us off our game. A business we believed would be something incredible turns out to be a disaster. All we can do is get back up and keep moving forward, with dignity and our heads held high, even if our dreams have been temporarily dashed.

Show me an Entrepreneur who has not met defeat on her way to glory and I will show you a bridge you can buy in Brooklyn. There is no such thing. While what we do day in and day out to get closer to our dreams of winning Gold in our businesses is not always fun, or easy, and at times seems impossible, the moments we do have when success is ours — however big or small — makes all the pain and sacrifice worth it.

I encourage you to take a few minutes today to celebrate your successes so far. Throw yourself a little awards ceremony. Or write them down in a notebook or journal. Even better, share them here so others can read them! How do you celebrate your wins? I would love to know! 🙂