Why obsessing over your goals may be hurting you? A Lesson from the Australian Olympic team at Rio 2016

It is always exciting when it is the Olympic year. It is a time when the best of the best congregate to test their physical and mental limits against each other to reach the highest human potential. It is also a time when the humanity is on display where man-made ideologies and differences are set aside to unite in sports. There were many inspiring stories. Stateless refugees were competing under the Olympic flag, gamesmanship where human spirit transcending competitive spirit, grit and courage of the underdog to lay everything on the line. Also, we saw many lessons that may be relevant to us. One such lesson was how obsessing over winning gold medals at the cost of focus and execution derailed the dreams of some of the most talented and gifted athletes on the face of this planet.

A perspective from the Australian Olympic team

Their eyes said it all even before it began. While they were outwardly beaming with confidence, their eyes did not express the same level of assuredness as their rhetorics. Loaded with swimming talent enviable to any country, Australia had a less than spectacular performance in the swimming pool at the Rio Olympics. The weight of the expectations and the media circus around winning gold medals may have weighed down these supremely gifted athletes and put them in unnecessary pressure. It appeared to me that their focus was more on medals, not performance. If you go by the records held by the leading swimmers, gold medals should have been theirs for taking. All their sacrifices and hard work came to an abrupt end shattering their dreams with less than par performance when it mattered the most.

On contrast, I watched an interview with Kim Brennan on TV, Australia’s Women’s Single Skull rower, the day before the final. During that interview there was an aura around her composure and focus that gave the feeling ‘here is a gold medal winner’ despite her challenging preliminary round of competition to qualify for the final. That interview wasn’t about her but her journey and acknowledgement of sacrifices made by others so that she could pursue her dreams. I felt her focus was on executing her game plan, not on medals. Execute she did the next day winning the final as if there was no competition. She had the skills, strength, humility and humanity, and no doubt she was a winner. Her ‘in-the-moment’ approach and deep respect for her competitors shone through her personality.

So what may have gone wrong with others? Focus and execution. These athletes belong to the same team but what a contrast? Kim wasn’t obsessed over an outcome in the future where she has little control over. Instead, her focus was on matters within her control. On the other hand, it appeared that athletes who had sub-par performance were obsessing over winning medals further confounded by the media frenzy. Focus on execution was absent. It is as if they were trying to own something even before earning it.

So what is the lesson for the mortals?

Having big, hairy, audacious goals (BHAG) in life is important. BHAG is the first stage of creation and the second stage involves manifesting the goals in the real world. However, when you constantly obsess over your goals by ignoring the question of what it takes to reach the target, you are getting fixated with a future state where you have no control over. It removes your focus from what you can control at the present moment by taking massive actions.

Execution is more about the journey, and not the destination. If your goal is not inspiring enough, then this journey may feel like 'pushing' yourself towards the goal. However, if your goal is inspiring, the journey seems like a greater force 'pulling' you towards the goal.

Execution involves focusing on finer details of taking action towards a goal. You are not fixated with the result. But you are emotionally and physically engaged by being present at the moment concentrating on taking steps towards the goals. As much as it is about focusing on timing and technical details, execution requires mental fortitude -  a discipline to cut off all the noise and to focus on each task at hand that matters. Focus and execution may sound simple, but mastering is not easy.

On the road to success as defined by reaching your goals, a strategy is a necessity, but the execution is everything, and it is tough.

P.S: Having some humility carries you a long way too in execution.