Your Olympic Support Team

I will admit that I am not a big sports fan. If the Maple Leafs ever win a Stanley Cup don't stop the bandwagon for me because I won’t be climbing aboard. However, I DO love the Olympics. In fact, I've watched more TV these past few days than I've watched in the last 12 months. Here's why I love the Olympics :
 
I learn something about leadership and commitment from these incredible people and their stories.

For instance, watch the Olympics for awhile and you quickly realize that the people accompanying each athlete hold one thing in common – their absolute belief in that athlete and an unwavering support of the dream. A skeptic just doesn’t have a chance around them.

That support didn’t begin with the Olympics. Over the years of training and competitions, each athlete surrounded themselves with carefully chosen allies as their journey progressed. It may have been only parents or a friend at first, but the circle grew as each positive addition was welcomed. Disbelievers and doubters were bade good-bye or left on their own accord.

When the going is tough, the athlete wants someone they can turn to and see their dream caught and reflected back to them.  Something as simple as a hug and the assurance “I know you can do it” may be the key to their next triumph. The energy of the athlete’s own belief becomes magnified, bigger than their own doubts and fears.

Who is your support team? Who are your biggest fans? Have you found your coach?  Ask them to help you hold the dream. When you run into that skeptical family member or the friend who is always pessimistic, don’t allow them to rain on your dream.  Be choosy about who you surround yourself with because you do have a choice. 

Here’s one more great thing about these Olympic supporters. All the athlete needs to do is go out there and give it their absolute best. Their family and friends still love and respect them even when they don’t stand on the podium.

So make a commitment to your vision and go for it, surrounded by your own Olympic Support Team.

 

Feed Your Dream

Think about this . We tend to honor our commitments to strangers while neglecting those who love us because we count on our loved ones to forgive us.

When I heard that the other day it wasn't a big leap to understanding why it's easy to renege on promises I make to myself. I believe I forgive myself. No harm, no foul.

But – do we really forgive and forget? Could it be why we feel stressed and resentful? Is it why we feel crunched for time? Does irritation at self show up in other places? We look outside for the cause of our bad mood and miss the fact that we're starving our dreams. I don't know about you, but I get pretty cranky when I'm hungry!

I suspect a lot of you reading this know what I'm talking about.

What's calling to you today? For me, it's time to write, to process experience and thoughts. I have a long To-Do list in front of me but it will have to wait. My writing tugs at my sleeve like a whiny child until I pay attention. If I don't, that child gets louder and keeps me from focusing fully on my other responsibilities. That's when the irritation starts, like a low grade pain.

There's only one cure. Make a commitment to your dream and honor it. Don't let yourself off the hook. Taking action on your unique dream is the most important work you can do. 

It doesn't have to take a lot of time. Fifteen minutes a day adds up to 90 hours in a year. I could write a whole book in that amount of time. 

What could you do with 90 hours?

What about that is important to you?

What would making that real in your life mean to you?