Olympic Lessons in Business: How to Get Your Gold Success

There are some priceless lessons in the Olympics that you can take away for your business success. The dedication, singular focus, and sacrifice many athletes make at very young ages and for several years is astounding. They are setting themselves up for lifetime achievement and success and staying uniquely focused on that greatest of goals for athletes, the Olympic gold.

The Fab Five with Their Gold!

Olympian Gabby Douglas left home in Virginia two years ago at only 14 years old, missing her mom, three siblings, and her two dogs, to train with an Olympic caliber coach Liang Chow in Iowa.  When Abbey Johnston’s diving coach moved from Ohio to North Carolina, Abbey gave up her senior year in high school to follow him. She took online courses and got an apartment on her own to continue her training. Family travel and vacations all centered around diving.

What is your Olympic gold in business?

1. Is it recognition in a national or global publication?
2. Is it outrageous financial rewards?
3. Is it working with a specific high profile clientele?
4. Is it realizing personal dreams fueled by your business success?

Or is it a combination of all four of these?

Until you identify it, it isn’t going to happen and you are simply working (not racing) on the path to average accomplishment. When you aren’t going for the gold in your business, are you deliberately setting your sites too low? Are you going to settle for Bronze or below? The only thing stopping you is your thoughts and beliefs. You are in charge of your progress, the connections you make, the opportunities you pursue, and the results you achieve. It is not dependent on the economy, the competition (or lack thereof), or any outside force.

The Olympic athletes are up against the fiercest competition globally, and yet they continue to push themselves relentlessly to be better, faster, more skilled, lift more, jump higher, and otherwise stretch the boundaries of human capability and endurance. Are you stretching yourself every day?

Are you pushing beyond what you can do to achieve what you want or are you settling for good enough?

Are you doing your best or are you willing to do whatever it takes?

Most Decorated Olympian in History

Achieving gold results in your business depends on burning passion,  clarity of purpose, singularity of focus, and dedication to action and activities that consistently move you forward. When you are missing any of these four ingredients, you will miss the gold. Having a dream is not enough. You must have a clear purpose and laser sharp focus. You must know the right and best actions to take and make them consistently and persistently to move yourself and your business forward. Wishing and hoping won’t make it so.

Take a minute right now to picture in your mind what your business gold looks like, smells like, feels like, sounds like, and tastes like. Capture that sensory experience and carry it with you every moment of every day. Take 10-15 minutes daily to focus on that picture and bring it to life inside of you. Know that everything you are doing is leading you to that place.

When what you are doing is a detour, correct your course and get back on track. When you aren’t clear, reach out for help from a coach or mentor who can guide you to your gold.

You deserve to win the gold only when you operate with a burning passion, a clear purpose, a singular focus, and take consistent and persistent action in the right and best ways to move you and your business forward. Anything less isn’t what you are truly capable of and leaves your potential and possibility on the table.

I’d love your take on what lessons you’ve learned from the 2012 Olympics and how you take Olympic actions in your business. COMMENT BELOW!