Olympic Lessons for Success – Unleashing Your Own Elite Potential

Olympics 2024 is underway, running July 24th until August 11th, and 337 of Canada’s top athletes are making us proud, with the medal count growing by the day. Competition in sport at this level, spanning countries, stirring national pride and contributing to global connection and comradery, stirs an excitement and living-room cheering worthy of any Olympic stadium.

Beyond the extraordinary thrill we get from watching our team surge across that finish line first, there is a deeper, broader reason why we love these high-stakes games. They remind us of the potential within ourselves. We all train and compete in life; we all aspire to greatness for ourselves and for those cheering us on. The Olympics remind us of what we’re capable of, makes us feel, even for just a moment, part of something greater than ourselves.

As those taking our lives to new levels through education, embracing a first or next career that will allow us to serve and create stability and abundance in our lives, these athletes, in their tenacity and drive have much to teach us. Whether finding creative ways to balance parenting and our studies, helping someone heal, conducting lab tests behind the scenes, or creating films to capture moments to motivate an audience, we are achievers in our own right. Here’s what we can take from these summer Olympics and apply to our own, worthy, runs-for-the-gold in life.

6 Olympic Lessons to Unleash Your Own Elite Potential

1. Dream and See the Future

Every athlete who crossed a finish line first began that feat by dreaming that they could, crystalizing in their minds the precise details of that achievement. Allow your imagination to consider what is possible for your life and then, when a dream has a hold of your heart, visualize, visualize, visualize. Picture in keen detail, yourself in the classroom acing that test, yourself in that lab, in that office, in that hospital, in the community, taking on the role your choices now are leading you toward. Anything is possible, for you, for your family; we have hundreds of students who have been right where you are now and can relay a story of wild success and joy at having imagined their dream and are now living it every day.

“When I get there, I’ve already pictured what’s going to happen a million times, so I don’t actually have to think about it.” ~ Swimmer Missy Franklin, four-time gold medal winner, who talks about using visualization to reduce anxiety of the unknown.

2. Set SMART Goals

Now that you can see that dream vividly, you can imagine that the next bit is about getting busy. Athletes, of course, set clear and lofty goals to reach those extraordinary heights. No matter what your “gold” in life is, getting clear about what you want to achieve, when and how, is essential to the finish line. In fact, these goals that athletes, and business and community leaders set are SMART:

• Specific – Dream. Do your research. Get clear about what you want to do, how you want to serve and work and why you’re doing it. It’s about considering what you can do now, every day, to work toward that long-term goal.
• Measurable – Set goals that allow you to evaluate your progress. As you embrace your education, this one may be a little easier for you, because we help you with that, with the curriculum and daily schedule that’s geared to ensure you hit those goals for graduation, ensuring you’re skilled, confident and in demand once you’re got that diploma. But apply this to everything in your life. You want to be able to see, measure and evaluate your progress and recognize what you’re learning and how you’re growing.
• Achievable – Setting incremental goals allows you to begin small and grow big, often bigger than you could have imagined initially. Ensure your goals build on one another. In education, this means selecting a program, attending class, setting a study schedule, sticking to it, and all the little goals along the way, that eventually lead to crossing that stage at graduation and then landing that career you envisioned.
• Realistic – This balances ambition with attainability. You’re looking to strike this balance. You want to look at what you can achieve in relation to your whole life and set goals that are challenging but that you can see are possible for you, daily and over time.
• Time-based – Your goals, to be effective, need to have start and end dates. Big picture for your career training – select a start date for that program that will lead to a better career, make a note of your graduation date, then anticipate the timing of when you’ll start that job you’ve always wanted. And for each goal you set during the time you’re in college – for your studies and your home-life responsibilities – set the goal time, work for it, complete it, check it off your list. Repeat.

“Motivation depends in a very large part on goal setting. The coach must have goals. The team must have goals … real, vivid, living goals. … Goals must be high enough to excite you, yet not so high that you can’t vividly imagine them. Goals must be attainable, but just out of reach for now.” ~ Dick Hannula, former US National Swim Team, Olympic coach.

3. Create Routines but Remember to Enjoy the Ride

Undoubtedly there is structure to setting and conquering your goals, daily routines that will help you tackle those hills and build momentum for achievement. Ensuring that your goals not only include what you’re looking to achieve professionally but also what makes you feel relaxed, peaceful, happy, connected to those you love, will put you in a better frame of mind to accomplish it all over time, ensure that your stamina is sustainable. Shifting your headspace, during the particularly challenging times, from “I have to do this” to “I get to do this”, is essential. Because ultimately our perspective matters and allows us to endure the hard push to receive that amazing reward in the long run.

In every moment that you’re striving for those lofty goals, you have to make sure you’re considering and working into your schedule what you love. Perhaps that is the material that you’re learning at the time. Or when the studying gets tough, you’re working some chill time with friends and family into your day to relieve the pressure.

“Make sure you’re having fun and make sure you’re doing what makes you happy as well, because if you’re doing what makes you happy, it doesn’t feel like a routine — it just feels like a thing you get to do.” ~ Evan Dunfee, Canadian race walker, World medalist and record-breaking Olympian.

4. Leverage Your Nervous Energy

From athletes right before the start gun goes off, to students walking into a sea of new faces on the first day of classes, and grads on their first day of a new job, we all get nervous … no matter how much we’ve trained. The difference between those who achieve greatness and those who wish they could but never go the distance, is that the former see their fear and do not let it control them. Elite athletes harness their nervous energy and channel it into the task at hand. As students you can do the same. Being nervous attunes us to the moment, and as long as you forge ahead, you can leverage that doubt and fear and worry about the outcome and pour it into doing that task anyway. Once you do, you’ll create a new frame of reference for what you can stretch yourself to do and do it all again, and again and again at higher and higher levels.

“I don’t think you’re human if you don’t get nervous.” – Sidney Crosby, Ice Hockey Champion, scored the “Golden Goal” at the 2010 Games.

5. See Setbacks as a Springboard

As so many of our students know, life can throw extraordinary challenges our way. From growing up in a country of oppression, having to leave our families for a time to create a future in Canada that they can come to, to illnesses and accidents that leave us wondering how we’ll recover, to enduring a pandemic and the loss of those we love … we are conquers, you as students are our heroes and we’re infinitely grateful to have been privy to your stories. And if you’re considering joining the Anderson College family, then know that we’ll feel deeply honoured to be a part of your inspiring story of triumph too.

Elite athletes too, no matter how hard and long they train, can be overcome by anxiety, injury, accidents that leave them devastated in the wake of a competition. But those who go on to achieve again, are those who choose to learn the lessons from that experience and use them to leap to a new level of understanding and apply them to their success in the future.

We can too.

Anything worth working for will test us to the limit; we will stumble, even fall, but it’s how we pick ourselves back up, dust off and set our determined sights on how we’ll use that setback to soar on to our ultimate success.

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan, award-winning basketball player, considered by many as “the greatest basketball player of all-time”.

6. Lean on Your Community for Inspiration and Support

One thing that countless leaders, achievers, undoubtedly including athletes of the 2024 summer Olympics, attribute their success to, is the unwavering support of community. Those communities can be made up of cheering fans, colleagues dedicated to a common vision, family members and friends who believe no matter the odds. Every person who succeeds in life has someone, often many, who are encouraging, inspiring, mentoring and who look fabulous holding those metaphorical pom-poms.

You, in your life endeavours, are no exception to this need. That is why this is a huge part of our vision at Anderson College, to provide students with a community of genuine support, an extended family, there for you as you embark on this thrilling time, as you adjust to a new career, sometimes a new country, and certainly a new life. It is our privilege to be for you, what the fans, the trainers, the healthcare professionals are to the athletes who wake up every day determined to achieve greatness.
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If you’re a current Anderson student, congratulations on embracing what it takes to be an Olympian in your own right, in your own life. If you’re still considering what career adventure to embark on, we have over 30+ programs to choose from, industry-expert instructors to guide you and training that blends theoretical and hands-on, practical instruction. Need help deciding? Take the “Anderson College Career Discovery Quiz”.

When you’re ready to hit the starting line, we’re here to help you navigate your way. We can’t wait to learn what “achieving gold” means for you. Book a virtual appointment today.

Quick Links to Fuel Your Success!

We want to make sure you have what you need to succeed! Check out these reference links:

• Team Canada Athletes Share the Best Advice They’ve Received
• 10 Tips to Balance School/Work/Life for Optimal Success! (andersoncollege.com)
• Ten Study Tips to Achieve Academic Success! (andersoncollege.com)