Life Lessons from an Olympic Gold Medalist

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The Life Lessons from Winning Three Olympic Gold Medals

Rowdy Gaines

MY PATH TO THREE OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALS WAS ANYTHING BUT EASY, AND THE TRUTH IS THAT THE THREE MEDALS WERE NOT THE GREATEST REWARD FOR ALL OF THE EFFORT.

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I talk a lot about goal setting because it’s really important. You have to know where you’re going in order to get there. You need something to focus on or you’ll get lost along the way.

But don’t become so focused on the destination that you forget to enjoy the journey, because that’s what makes you who you are: how you treat others along the way, how you respond to setbacks and how you use your successes to build momentum.

My decades in competitive swimming have taught me that those who don’t enjoy the journey — the practices, the traveling, the time spent with teammates — are the ones who rarely, if ever, achieve their goals.

Those who savor the process — and realize that the journey is more important than the destination — are the ones who end up on the podium.

Set lofty goals, but make sure that you enjoy the daily grind. If you don’t enjoy it, odds are that you won’t be a success — and you’ll have wasted a great of time being miserable. The people who ultimately become good at something are those who were OK with being bad at it — at least for a while. Most of us give up too easily and quit to quickly.

Life is a series of non-stop course corrections. Being bad at something is a necessary part of the process of becoming good at it.

Those who become successful are simply those who are able to endure the frustration of failure.

They overcome early struggles because they believe in their potential. They’re able to overcome the self-doubt and fear of failure that we all face.

It’s ironic that being bad at something is a necessary part of the process of becoming good at it. How long will it take before you become really good at something?

If you’re enjoying the process (see Life Lesson #1), it doesn’t really matter. Success isn’t accidental. One of the most valuable life lessons I learned as an Olympic athlete is the importance and power of visualization.

I swam the 100-meter freestyle final in 1984 a thousand times in my mind before I ever climbed onto the starting blocks in Los Angeles to swim it for real.

I visualized a lightning quick reaction to the gun and an explosive start. I visualized every stroke of the race. I visualized how I would feel in the water, how I would execute my turn, how I would respond to the pressure of a close finish and how it would feel to win. And I visualized it all in vivid detail so many times that I actually programmed myself to swim the perfect race. And I did.

The mind is very powerful and very mysterious. Plant the seeds of your success by visualizing what you want to accomplish and how you’re going to accomplish it. And then your mind will go to work to help make it happen.