Olympics: Watch and Coach Yourself!

Olympics: Watch and Coach Yourself!

The 2022 Winter Olympics open on February 4th in Beijing, China. From the Opening Ceremonies to the final closing on the 20th, we’ll all have the chance to cheer for our favorite athletes and teams, our countries of origin and our beloved adopted countries, and if we're lucky, our hometown heroes.

We admire Olympic athletes in their grace and form, strength and speed – like we might admire an eagle soaring through the air or a cheetah bounding in the grasslands – like they are an elite species, superheroes, or Goddesses. and Gods. It’s easy to forget that they are indeed human beings!

But their hard work, representation, and courage to compete is more than entertainment – it’s one of the best self-coaching opportunities available for you.

Self-coaching is the practice of coaching techniques at any time, that you can use to leverage your motivation, attitude, mood, and sense of purpose to direct your focus, thoughts, and actions.

“Self-coaching is the process of guiding our growth and development, particularly through periods of transition, in both the professional and personal realms” (Batista, 2013).

Through self-coaching, you consciously hone your inner voice to serve your health, mindset, and self-defined objectives. Your self-coaching practice can also help you leave a positive legacy.

Do you know who has had the experience of all kinds of coaches over more hours than we can fathom and for years and years? Olympians! And they, through their journeys, become skilled and practiced at self-coaching too. I learned from Swiss Olympic Judoka Juliane Robra that Judo is based on two universal life principles: efficiency of energy and mutual benefit for all. Can you feel the power of bringing these principles into your inner voice in day-to-day activites? Sounds like a burnout prevention recipe to me!

Here are 5 ways to try and practice self-coaching while enjoying the Olympic Games this month:

1.??????Put it in your body: Are you a victim of the hidden pandemic of COVID-19 couch-potato-itis? It’s time to stand up, breathe deep, stretch, and challenge yourself along with the athletes. Be inspired by those beautiful fit bodies! ?Is there a yoga pose you can hold for the duration of a fast race? Can you swing your arms along with cross country skiers? Can you place your bets on gold, silver and bronze and pay up in jumping jacks and push-ups? Get creative! Be conscious of your body and imagine what it would feel like to be sledding, skating, skiing, or jumping. Feel the cold air on your face. Even a tiny bit of movement oxygenates your brain, and you’ll get a boost of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin too!

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2.??????Grow your team consciousness: Athletes never arrive on the podium alone. As you learn stories about the many people working together to support an athlete or team, from coaches to physical therapists, to nutritionists, to medical doctors and sports scientists, to volunteers –as well as supporting and loving family members who may have made sacrifices for years – think about your own team. Who is on your team? Who helped get you where you are today? Who will help get you where you are going? Who can you thank today? Who do you need to recruit? Teamwork is a group activity – but team consciousness is part of an empowered self-coaching practice.

3.??????Practice visualization: My business partner Michelle Guiliano, who has coached Olympic rowers, and I have worked with over 100 Olympic athletes, Olympic and national coaches, and youth coaches from many countries. We have never met a champion coach or athlete who does not use visualization. It took a while, but the science is catching up – and research continues to confirm that visualization of success leads to success – through chemical changes in the body, increased muscle mass, and well – there still seems to be an element of magic that can be explained by the power of imagination, self-belief, and emotional leverage. You might not be able to see Olympic athletes’ visions, but sometimes you can imagine their contemplations right before an event begins. Pay attention to the comments athletes make after a win too – there is usually some version of: Q “What does it feel like to win the gold? A “It feels like every practice for the past 4 years.” You see, Olympic medal winners win a thousand times before they win – in their mind’s eye. What win do you want to see in your life? See it right now. And then see it a thousand times again.

4.??????Own your cheese: Olympic Games celebrate excellence in sports and excellence in human beings with a lot of pagentry. It’s not a time to hold back. Represent. Wear your team colors. Belong to something bigger than yourself. Get emotional. Feel the pain and the glory. Scream and shout as if you were really there. Enjoy the emotions of the athletes, coaches, and parents too. Dance with the victors and feel the pride of the parents. Emotional engagement in stories of human triumph is good for us – not in spite of political, economic, or pandemic worries but because of them. When times are tough, we need and deserve reminders of the best we can be, the best life has to offer, and the best inside ourselves. Hear that drumbeat? It’s your heart. Have you been managing, making do, keeping your head down, and surviving the stress of the past two years? It’s time to pick your head up and remember what thriving looks and feels like. No apologies, no embarrassment, just joy. Own it.

5.??????Be the guardian of your inner flame: My favorite symbol to fuel my clients’ and my self-coaching practice? The Olympic Flame! This sacred fire, allegedly stolen from the Gods, represents the human potential for excellence, performance, growth, and for continuously changing our perception of what is possible. This light is nurtured, kept alight, protected by guardians day and night, and shared by all. This light travels through a chain of human hands – each lighting a torch from the previous person and carried forward – on its journey to each Olympic city. It’s a light that shines hugely bright during the Olympic games. Your inner flame? It should be guarded, protected, and nurtured. It stays alight only through teamwork and needs oxygen to burn. If your times of shining bright for all to see burn yourself or others, or consume you completely – you need to learn how to be a true guardian. Your inner flame is so precious – but it can only provide warmth and enlightenment, it can only fight the darkness – if you guard it and treat it with respect. Honor your inner light so that it may shine throughout your life and leave this light in your legacy – so that it is recognized as valuable and carried on by others even after you are gone. Coach yourself, what does the Olympic torch relay and the large torch during the Games inspire in you? What is your essence, your gift, your inner light?

Deepest gratitude to every Olympian, coach, Olympic parent, Olympic spouse, and all the support staff and volunteers working to make the Games happen in challenging times. And for the rest of us, Let Our Olympic Self-Coaching Begin!

Denise Nickerson is a high-performance coach of gifted leaders and creatives based near the Olympic city of Lausanne, Switzerland. She is a co-founder of Salt Consulting & Communications. Her next self-coaching group training program with availability, Integrity Works, begins in September 2022, but you can get started TODAY with The Integrity System - 12 sessions of fully online self-directed coaching materials to use on your own schedule here: www.salt.consulting