Every four years, I’m reminded of how amazing watching the Olympics is. The shared nationalism and pride in stark contrast to the current divisiveness of the political landscape, the pure joy of watching others accomplish their dreams, story after story of individuals making sacrifice in pursuit of a greater goal…
I’m also suddenly aware of how incredibly short-sighted I tend to be. Hell, I’ve even written about the importance of short-term goals.
Four years ago, I was cheering Michael Phelps in his pursuit of gold. Since then, he’s spent ~1460 days preparing for that same goal while I bounced around from focus to focus, goal to goal, and role to role. The same thing can be said about the period 4 years prior.
It’s so hard for me to imagine taking that type of long view. Working every day for four years towards one singular goal…what is that like? To forego instant gratification and put the time in, every day, towards a larger and very specific goal?
In what is probably the most badass thing I’ve ever seen, 17-year old Morolake Akinosun predicted five years ago that she would be an Olympic athlete.
That’s Babe Ruth-level shot calling.
I’m inspired thinking of the things I can accomplish if I simply set a specific and measurable long-term goal.
What is your Olympic focus?