Are You A Champion-You Can Be

Vonn claimed “it wasn’t the perfect run by any means. It was a little ragged, but it was fast.”  These are the words of 25 year old, Lindsey Vonn, the woman's 2010 Olympic downhill ski champion.  What is important to every champion is to have a check mark in the win column.  Yes, it is nice to have that check with everything being done exactly right and with no glitches.  But a win is a win, no matter what.


Champion athletes practice, train, use one or more coaches, in fact, I can not think of any sports figure that doesn't.  They work at perfecting their talent every day, hour upon hour, that is their job.  This allows them to display their ability in competition.  How many hours would you think that Lindsey Vonn trained for her 1min, 44.19 second ski run down that mountain that won her an Olympic Gold Medal, I can't imagine, but I am sure it is thousands.  Thousands of hours to culminate in a less than 2 minute ski run, but that is the price of success the price of being a champion.


We as business owners can take a lesson from this.  We too need to practice, train ourselves, be coached and be willing to work through the pain.  Winning does not come easy.  It may look easy from the outside, but once you are on the inside you know differently.


Practice, practice, practice.  What are you willing to sacrafice in order to win.  Time away from your family and friends, give up weekends, evenings, personal hobbies, what?  To come away a champion you have to give something up, perhaps more than one thing.  Hopefully, at some point you will be able to recapture what you gave up, but in the meantime, the sacrifice is required.


Focus on your business like your life depended on it, because it does.  Invest in yourself through books, seminars, coaching, consultants, and a variety of training programs that exist in almost every town in the U.S.
If you wont invest in yourself, why should anyone else invest in you.  Step up, grab the bull by the horns and ride it for all it is worth.  


There will always be disappointment & adversity, but miracles do happen, they come from a laser  focus on your business, your responsibilities, and implementation of a rational strategy.


You don't always have to be in first place to be a winner, or qualify to go on to the next round.  Just look at NASCAR, even golf, second place also has a payday.


Win or lose, it is up to you.  Are you in the game or on the sidelines.