8 Gold Medals and 4 Lessons

8 Gold Medals and 4 Lessons

 
The world was watching the Olympics in August as Michael Phelps secured 8 gold medals for Swimming. Considered one, if not the greatest Olympian ever, the media hype around the Olympics did not disappoint. I must admit I was drawn in. I caught a couple of MP's races, but missed the last one where he was going for the 8th medal. Of course it was covered on all the news stations so it wasn't long before I found out he did it. He captured 8 gold medals and is now the greatest. Wait a minute, I thought to myself, what's the story behind the story. The life coach in me asked, "Who is this guy they call Michael Phelps?" Fortunately for me I was able to catch a post 8 gold medal interview with MP, his coach and his mom. There were several things that caught my attention. The interview I saw shed light on more than the end result of 8 gold medals. Here is what I saw:

1. Overcoming Adversity: Being diagnosed with ADHD as a child MP had his share of trouble as he quickly finished his work and disturbed the other kids. He also was being picked on and had a bad temper. I recently read an article in Men's Journal that described the rocky relationship MP had with his coach. Despite the tantrons his coach saw something in him and gave MP something to aspire to. His coach sat him down and told him that he believed he could compete in the Olympics. Before that MP was looking to quit swimming so he could spend more time hanging out with his friends. After hearing what his coach had to say MP showed a sense of focus and determination that has helped him to be the athlete he is today.

2. Goal Setting: During the interview there was talk about MP and his coach writing down goals for the 2008 Olympics and putting them away. There is no way I can prove this for sure, but I have a feeling that the goals written down on that sheet of paper did not simply say, "Win 8 gold medals." Something tells me that his goals looked more like, "Set a personal record in the freestyle, swim this specific time in the 200m butterfly, etc."

3. Motivation: The media covered how MP cut out an article from the newspaper that quoted one of the gents from the French swim team talking trash. He kept this in his locker and used it as fuel to motivate his performance. During the interview with Bob Costas, it was mentioned that Michael Jordan did the same thing. Even if no one really did talk trash about him, Michael Jordan would make it up so he had fuel for motivation. For me this was a glimpse into greatness and some of the things that elite athletes do. How can we apply this in our everyday life?

4. Self-made...Not: 8 gold medals are great but it's also important to note that 3 out of those 8 came from relay events. That means there were 3 other swimmers he was counting on in order to win 3 of those 8 medals. No swimmer or person does it alone. It takes support from others for us to reach out biggest goals. Where's the opportunity for collaboration in your life?