Are All Gold's Created Equal?

It's the final day of the Paris 2024 Olympics and the USA and China are locked in a battle for the most Gold Medals won.

As of this writing, the US is trailing China by 1 gold medal despite having won 33 more total medals and having a weighted total nearly 50 points higher than China.

Should the US not earn gold in some of their final events today, this would be the first time since Beijing 2008 that the USA was not at the top for the most Gold won.

But as I was catching up with a few friends last night we got into a debate on if all Gold's are created equal.

Now I have a lot of bias here, because after all I am American and want to win, but when I looked into how China wins all their gold medals I found it very interesting what I discovered.

I am not going to focus on the controversy around doping, falsifying ages, and even throwing matches so that particular athletes can get into the Olympics. But if you did want to learn more about that you can read this great article from Hannah Beech at the New York Times.

Instead, I will focus on the strategy China uses to win so many medals.

• Talent Identification and Development: China has an extensive system for identifying young athletic talent. Promising athletes are often selected at a young age and placed in specialized sports schools where they receive rigorous training.
• Specialization in Certain Sports: China focuses heavily on sports where they have historically done well and offers multiple medal opportunities, such as gymnastics, diving, table tennis, weightlifting, shooting, and badminton. These sports often require a high degree of skill and technique, which can be developed through intensive training programs at an early age.
• Structured Training Regimen: Athletes in China are often part of a centralized system that emphasizes a structured and disciplined approach to training. This system is highly organized, with clear goals and expectations for athletes at all levels.

How can China's success apply to our lives?

When you look at what China has done well they focused on sports in which you didn't have to be the biggest, the fastest, or necessarily the strongest. Instead, you had to have the best technique and mechanics to win in that niche.

As I think about this in business you can either be a generalist or a specialist.

While I prefer to be a generalist, I have found specific areas in my life where being a specialist helps me stand out from others.

But what I tend to specialize in are areas where there is not a lot of competition, because I would rather be a big fish in a small pond, than a small fish in a large ocean.

Most entrepreneurs are like that.

Yes, we all share a commonality of being aspiring business owners, and we might still fit under the same umbrella in which we operate our business, but the specialty that I serve for companies and individuals is vastly different in my specific niche.

I am not trying to be everything for everybody, I am trying to be someone very important to the select few that need me.

As you reflect on your own life, how are you trying to achieve success?

Are you trying to be the big fish in a small pond or are you trying to be the whale in the ocean?

If that reflection doesn't help, then always remember the line from Talladega Knights, "If you ain't first, you're last."

Keep on pursuing your own personal Gold in life.