On finding inspiration in retirement and saying yes to new things.

It’s always great to shoot the breeze with a fellow athlete - someone who sees the world on the same terms, with a similar perspective. I love sitting down for regular chats with fellow Optus ambassador Ellie Cole, for instance. As a six-time gold medallist at the Paralympic Games, Ellie knows a thing or two about what it’s like to compete at the top level, and then leave it all behind.

We caught up recently and touched on exactly that, and how keeping a routine is imperative. I still love to train, and so does she. Ellie watches her old teammates and sparring partners in the pool now, too, and says it’s sometimes bittersweet. I get that - I get the notion of missing the contest, but it’s also easy enough to reconcile. You just push yourself in other ways, set little challenges for yourself. You’d be surprised what setting and meeting little challenges, whatever they may be, can do for the soul.?

I think that’s why we’ve both found the transition from sport to business enjoyable, because the mindset is so similar in both. When going from the court into corporations - the locker room to the board room - so many guiding principles do double duty. Preparation. Knowledge. Discipline. And surrounding yourself with the right team and the right goals, while competing for the right reasons.?

That’s the kind of thing I knew instinctively during my career, but probably didn’t articulate until I had retired. Ellie asked me about my memoir - My Dream Time - and how daunting it was to get my story down on paper. I loved reading as a kid, and still do, so book projects were a no brainer. But what I didn’t grasp until I got to work was just how therapeutic the process would be. If you’re going to write a book, you need to look at your life - every part and every person - and connect all those dots. To write your story, you have to know your story.

These chats with Ellie serve a similar purpose. We talk about our heroes: Ellie inspired by Ian Thorpe and Petria Thomas, me by Cathy Freeman and Evonne Goolangong-Cawley. We talk about hopes and dreams and habits, and having a laugh at Daniel Ricciardo on the golf course. Ellie wanted to know everything, but all I can say is this: He’s great at driving the cart, but not so great at driving the Callaway.

#itstartswithyes #winninghabits #courttocorporate?