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If it takes years for athletes to get ready for a performance of a lifetime, how long do you need to plan for yours?
Watching the Olympics and the stories of the athletes’ journeys to get there tells the story of a dream, the plan, the discipline and a good dose of resilience. Four years of working to one goal is a long time in our world of real time. The Olympic athletes’ journey to Rio is a reminder of where the longer term plan could take you. It's also a reminder of the resilience needed to get there. No big goal is easy and no big goal is free of obstacles, challenges and wobbles.
For many us, it's not four years between major performances or judging. We experience competition and assessment hourly, daily and weekly. Real life means we often work with the expectations for immediate results. The world moves fast, things change and it's highly competitive.
How do you reconcile the need for immediate results and a long term world class performance?
The mental shift of time frames from 6 -12 months to 2- 4 years is challenging both in planning and execution. The opportunity to manage this challenge can be borrowed from our athletes:
• Have a plan for the next race plus the next Olympics
• Set your personal best goal and work hard for it
• The competition is brutally tough. Be ready
• Go for it. Embrace the risks and take on a few more
• Know your talents and train and develop them every day
• Don't let a wobble throw you off. Persistence is key
• Surround yourself with supporters, coaches and cheerleaders
• Celebrate along the way
Women's gymnastics was one of the events I watched. Two of the Canadian team fell off the balance beam. There was never any doubt as to whether they would get back on and finish their routine. There was no evident sign of damage to their confidence. Their training would see them through to the end.
If you wobble or fall, your training plan will help you recover. Focus on the dream
The Olympics is the time to celebrate the talent, drive and the competitiveness of our athletes. With anticipation we watch our countries athletes deliver their top performance. We want to see each athlete succeed, we want to see our country's team succeed.
What's your opportunity to realize Olympic scale performance and success for you and your team?
Lisa W. Haydon is the President and Founder of Pivotal Coaching Inc. She left her comfortable corporate career several years ago to follow her passion of helping people realize their potential and companies to realize high performance. Lisa is a growth focused entrepreneur, leadership development consultant and certified executive coach. To her clients, she brings business experience with prestigious corporations and continuous education. Lisa’s work in business operations and B to B sales expertise allowed her to create a differentiated coaching model and client experience. Lisa and Pivotal Coaching are known for 1:1 and cohort Programs in leadership development and sales effectiveness.