Turning a silver performance into Gold!
I was disappointed not to win gold again at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Silver was still a fantastic result, but there was something missing, the difference between gold and silver.
Reflecting on my preparation for Sydney I do not think I had enough time to get my process right. I was studying my final year of physiotherapy full time, I was working part-time, running a home and on top of that was training at least twenty hours each week. I was busy doing many things that were important to me but all at the same time. I was spreading myself too thin and I realised that the reason why I won silver was because I was performing all my activities at a silver level!
There is nothing wrong with performing at a silver level if that is want you want. Silver was not good enough for me and I knew I had to make serious changes to make sure I gave my self the best opportunity to win gold again in Athens 2004.
The first thing I did was to have a serious look at my life and all the activities I was involved in. I needed to prioritize what was important and would contributed to a gold level performance. This was not easy but I realised that some things could wait. To get to a gold level I needed time every day to do all the extra things that my competitors were not doing.
One thing I had to learn to do was say ‘no’. Naturally I enjoy helping people so I felt like I was letting people down by saying ‘no’ to them. Two things I did to help with this were employed a manager to say ‘no’ for me and secondly when I did say ‘no’ I began to celebrate it. I knew that by saying no I had more time available to work on my goal of winning gold.
The next important step for me was to surround myself with a positive and proactive team. Even though I compete in an individual sport- athletics - I knew I could not achieve a gold medal performance without a team of experts around me. People who were positive, encouraging, motivating, honest and were interested in helping me reach my goal.
We all need a team of people around us if we want to be successful. Who makes up your team? Are they positive, like minded, uplifting people that challenge you, motivate you and keep you accountable to reaching your goals and dreams?
I felt so prepared when I went to Athens. I knew that my process worked and there was nothing else I could have done in my preparation. All I had to do was to stay injury free and healthy in the lead up to my event and then follow my race plan.
Eight long years later after winning silver, silver and more silver, I finally won a gold again!
Tips for turning a silver performance into gold:
• Set goals and then follow the ‘process’.
• Prioritise what is important to achieve your process so you have time to perform the extra tasks.
• Learn to say no if you are too busy and spreading yourself too thin.
• Surround yourself with a positive, like minded team of people.
Business Alchemy - Published in "Leaders with a Life Magazine" in May 2007
