INC Magazine recently interviewed Bryan Clay, the 2008 Beijing Gold medalist in the Men’s Decathlon, a grueling two-day contest in which athletes compete in 10 track and field events. Clay returns to the 2012 Olympics and describes his preparations for this year’s games by saying “I just get up every day determined to work harder than everyone else that day.”
We will be inundated with stories such as Bryan’s over the next few weeks and will be cheering on these incredible individuals who have stories of hardships, challenges, triumphs and often defeats that spur them on to “go for the Gold.”
Every four years we are reminded that hard work coupled with discipline, purpose and sheer determination is the formula for success. Certainly winning is the goal but all too often, even in defeat, we hear of the journey toward the goal as the most rewarding.
We wonder what the equivalent to the Olympics might be in each of our lives. Most of us don’t wake up every day preparing for the chance of a lifetime but what if we did? How would our perspective on each day change? What different choices would we make each day?
Take some time this week to reflect on these questions. There is an Olympic athlete in all of us waiting to be unleashed . . . but only you can let it loose!
