Go Michael Go...!

(Photo Credit: Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

I have always admired people (my amazingly talented friends & cousins) who make it a point to leave their STAMP on their respective ventures - teaching, consultancy, design, medicine, law, Software development, professional coaching etc. Conversation with such acquaintances is always Fun - the talks centre around keywords like : Phenomenal, Talent, Cool Concept, Customer Delight, Differentiation and my favorite "Record Setting". (Call up one of your distinguished friend over this weekend and I bet you might find an analogy there).

Anyways speaking of records, there's something very very special about them which is why I love watching Olympic Events so much :) At a certain instant we perceive a world record in a sport like Gymnastics / 100m Race as the near perfect & invincible one...only to learn 4 years later that that very record was broken quite easily by a younger sporst(wo)man. Amazed, I started reading about the way such atheletes prepare for Olympics today morning and what I learnt was by far impressive. Here's some so called secrets (most of us know 'em already but lets just recapitulate 'em again):

• Peak: The sole goal of achieving Peak Performance at the shortest possible timeframe is drilled deep in minds of such world class sportspersons.
• Thrill: They make their sports look as exciting as a Roller Coaster Ride. (Ever wondered which is why we spent hours watching a Tennis or Soccer Game?)
• Willpower: All young athletes start their training / preparations with the knowledge that there are a dozen (if not more) players out there in the world who are better than them and have been training for years ! A strong Willpower & Self Belief comes for rescue here.
• Realisation: Training and playing with smarter opponents makes one aware about one's strengths & weaknesses. This realisation forms the true basis for improvement.
• Pressure: The world in general gauges you by how you perform under pressure. The way sportsmen utilise their strengths in tough and close games differentiates a world class player from a normal one. Remember how most of us leaned forward on our chairs during the memorable Federer-Nadal Winbeldon Match....and you thought getting Gold Medal in college was an immense pressure-cooker situation :-)
• Value: Winning is one thing but delivering exceptional value to a game by playing great moves and being the role model for youngsters serves to be the biggest motivation for great players.
• Transform: Everyone loves winning but learning from defeats is a skill I feel sportsmen ace at - which is why they are able to move on so well and transform themselves for the upcoming events.
• Rhythms: The preparations / training routine certainly pushes 'em beyond the limits pf normal physical strain/stress and slowly their bodies tune themselves to operate at a higher performance levels - lets say Rhthyms (I love this word !)

Well, that sure was an eye-opener for me in ways more than one for it reminded me about the High School days when our gang strived to set individual records in Mathematics Olympiads- in retrospect that was quite an interesting time indeed ! Anyways, as I saw Michael Phelps giving the world yet another surprise by winning the gold medal in the Men's 400m individual medley breaking his very own world record by 1.42 seconds my advise to him for upcoming events is "Go Michael Go...!!"

That said I feel that we can all strive to seek thrill in our lives just by pushing ourselves a little everyday - you never know when you become a distinguished human being !! Being referred to as "Peak Performer" or a "TrendSetter" by those around you certainly sounds good :-)

"Are you doing stuff or just imagining it?"