The Power of Vision: How Champions See Their Success Before It Happens
The Olympics just came to an end, and one thing shone through clearly to me—whether it was breakdancing, swimming, diving, U.S. track and field (my personal favorite), soccer, or women’s rugby. When people won and spoke to the world, to the reporter/commentator about earning a medal in the Olympics, nine times out of 10, they would share how they saw themselves winning.
One beautiful example was in the hundred-meter hurdles.? There was a young woman, Masai Russell. Masai barely qualified for the finals. She got out of the blocks slowly, but then closed hard and won by one-hundredth of a second. (Note: if she had run 0.02 seconds slower, she wouldn’t have made it to the finals at all.)
?When asked about her race, she responded:
“I could barely sleep last night. This is what I’ve been dreaming of. It’s literally what I dreamed of, what I prayed for. I could barely sleep because I was thinking of my name coming up, Number One. And then when it came up, I thought to myself, ‘literally what I dreamed of, what I prayed for.’ It was just literally a dream come true.”
She continued, “I know that I’m capable of crazy things. I’m not even willing to put a number on it. I’ve been saying this for a long time. I believe that I can break the world record. So it doesn’t matter what anyone else had coming into this race. The only thing that I could control was myself. I know that I’m one of the best hurdlers in the world, and no one can take that away from me. I just focused on what I could do between my lane and just pushed to the end. And I told everyone last year when I fell in Budapest that I’ll be back and I’m here, and I’m an Olympic champ. And that’s crazy.”
What we see is that people who remain fiercely focused on the goal, know in their soul what they are capable of, and have a beautiful filter between them and what everyone else in the world thinks are able to more easily align with their goals. This idea that we’re constantly co-creating is always true, whether you believe it or not. It’s important to stay in lockstep and focused.
When people are exceptionally good at something, it isn’t that they started to believe they were exceptional the moment the world knew it —it’s that they knew from the beginning. Michael Jordan always knew he was Michael Jordan, and LeBron James always knew he was LeBron James. Perhaps at times, they surprised themselves, but they always knew. Serena Williams always knew she was Serena Williams. Steve Jobs always knew he was brilliant. We see this in various fields with people who are considered the best in what they do.
The importance isn’t about proving to other people. It’s about knowing in your soul. And when you know it in your soul, your success is inevitable. In that moment, when others are surprised when they think someone else is going to win, and then you end up the Olympic champion, and someone asks if that was shocking for you, you simply look at them and say no because you knew—you dreamt of it the night before—and you know that dreams come true. Let’s envision a brighter future aligned with your dreams! You got this!
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BBH
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