Inspiring a generation both on and off the track

London 2012. Two words loaded with so much meaning and inspiration. As most newspapers and other articles will tell you – it’s been an amazing past couple of months. We have all been inspired, touched and motivated in some way.

I went to bed particularly late last night and woke this morning – my mind plagued with the same thought – What did 2012 do to me?  

I have been sitting on this blog, perhaps awaiting some pivotal moment whereupon I could perhaps ride on the coat tails of these great games and blog about the sense of unity and achievement I felt during this time; but I have felt there are greater lessons we can take away.

Focus on the present

When you are actually doing the best that you can out on the track, on the diving board or in the office, don’t get fixated on what you must or need to do later, focus on the task at hand – give it your best and stop worrying about the outcome. Just focus on what’s in front of you, not on what you missed in the past or how you may fail in the future.

Things will become easier if you adopt this kind of focus. You’ll create less anxiety and unnecessary pressure on yourself to succeed and you will perform better because you are just focusing on what’s right in front of you.

“I’m trying to do the best I can. I’m not concerned with tomorrow, but with what goes on today.”-

Mark Spitz, Swimmer

Things don’t need to be complicated, things are only as complicated and messy as YOU make them

I am the first to admit I have majored in minor things, read into situations, peoples comments, but at the end of the day this has got me nowhere; all it has done is create unnecessary anxiety and stress.

The human condition (as I call it), teaches us to fight for the underdog, the person that goes through immense struggle to find success – a type of success that one simply dreams about.

Achievement and success takes precious time. Approaching and dealing with things like you are in some sort of mine field and stressed with the intense struggle, may make for a great story in the newspaper, but in actual fact, it isn’t the most pleasant way to deal with things. Making things a lot harder than they are will just create mental warfare and feed that negative chatterbox.

The way you view things and your attitude, does, to a large degree, determine your experience, and how or if you take action. This isn’t to say that things can’t be difficult, but making things harder than they need to be is not beneficial. This links into self-worth and being kind to yourself. Let that kind of thinking go and replace it with a lighter, less serious attitude – a good attitude.

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” - Scott Hamilton, Figure Skating

Look at the bigger picture to achieve success – love what you do

I look at these athletes who are so talented, and I have pondered – how do you become so brilliant at something?

Nowadays we are taught to work smarter and not harder. However, to me, people are placed into two categories: Those who put in years and years of hard work to achieve; and those, who just don’t bother. What is the human psyche behind this? What drives these people to keep pushing, keep working harder and harder?

To some degree, it could be because they are surrounded by encouragement and recognise that they need to be challenged outside of their comfort zone – but I think it’s more so because they love what they do.

So focus on doing what you love – if you love what you do, you will never have to ‘work’ another day in your life.

“The first thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.” -

- Peggy Fleming, Figure skating

Leave the negativity at home - it’s contagious if you let it dominant your playground

Countless times, I have allowed other people’s negative opinions to subconsciously become my own. What I have continuously failed to realise, time and time again is, that is all they are - ‘other peoples opinions’; they aren’t actually fact.

When faced with a problem, listen to that inner voice we have discussed previously, sit very still and ask yourself a few questions: Are these people involved in this?  Do they actually know anything about it? Are they just sharing their insecurities or their own pessimism? Do they not want me to grow, because they are actually the ones that fear change?

A lot of the time, I have people airing their own problems and belief systems – rather than giving me accurate facts and solid advice. This is not to say don’t listen to people. Far from that, (remember the 80:20 rule). Listen 80 percent, speak the remaining 20. If what someone says makes logical rational sense, sure, take that on board, but hold fast to your own inner voice and opinion.

Make your own decisions rather than listening to what other people ‘think’ you should do.

“When anyone tells me I can’t do anything, I’m just not listening any more.” 

- Florence Griffith Joyner, Sprinter

Keep humble – keep your own ego in check

Once you let success go to your head, the world of total arrogance will absorb you. It can also make you more emotionally reactive (rather than responsive) as you inflate your ego and strongly identify with your achievements.

Of course success FEELS and IS amazing. When you grasp it – it’s the best feeling, but soon you may begin to doubt that you are still as good as your last achievement and as wonderful as everyone said you were. It is from this you become more reactive to criticism. This affects the steadiness of your focus, thoughts and emotions. Internally, self-doubt and sabotage will come to life.

All of this cannot only affect your relationships with other people but also your performance. This isn’t saying you cannot have a high level of self-promotion, worth and confidence in your abilities, it just mean you should keep your ego in check, and not get completely caught up in past achievements and allowing your ego to become too inflated.

“I’m the same kind of guy before all this happened.”

- Michael Phelps, Swimmer

Compare yourself to no-one

All you can see is what people choose to show you. The people you think you envy have problems too. The only comparison you can make is to how you’ve progressed on your own personal journey. Stay in your lane, stay focused on your own race and don’t worry if there are people ahead of you. Remember it’s not about winning in the long run, it’s about taking part.

“I Didn’t Set Out to Beat the World; I Just Set Out to Do My Absolute Best.”

- Al Oerter, four-time gold medal winner, Discus

It’s about taking risks

To get what you really want you will pretty much always have to take risks. Of course, sometimes we choose not to – because of fear.

It’s about finding that inner courage and strength and taking the plunge; taking the risk. In order to stop allowing fear to control you, you need to ask yourself – what actually is the WORST that could happen? It’s so easy to build up a negative mindset and not do something in order to feel safe. 80 percent of what we fear doesn’t actually eventuate.

How many times in your life did ALL of your fears in your head come true? The more you realise how very few had, the more I think you will be able to feel more confident with taking risks.

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

- Muhammad Ali, Boxer

London 2012. See the wider lessons. Both these Olympians and Paralympians can teach us much much more than just being good at competitive sport.