It’s easy to think that the path to greatness at the Olympics is about being really good at a sport and then competing a lot. It turns out there’s at least one gold medalist who decided that wasn’t the right path to the top of the podium.
In an article in Slate.com, Olympic Skier Mikaela Shiffrin’s path to success is examined and there is a big surprise along the way.
The gold medalist in women’s slalom was a prodigy. At age 14, she was winning events on the world stage. But rather than push to their daughter into a busy competitive schedule, her parents decided that they would limit her competitive events to less than a dozen.
Keep in mind that slalom is a sport where a promising athlete could compete 25 to 50 times a year, Shiffrin instead spent her teenage years working on her fundamentals and practicing. While practicing was less glamourous, you skied much more than you would if you were traveling and competing in events. Another benefit was that the focus on fundamentals reportedly made it much harder to pick up bad habits that can be common in young athletes who take on a busy competitive schedule.
The strategy paid off as the 18 year old now has a gold medal and a promising career underway. What would have happened if she and her family had decided that early success was all that it took to be a champion?
What does this have to do with those of us who are not Olympians? Some people get jobs based on their talent but don’t advance in their careers because they forgot about improving their fundamentals.
You’re hired because you’re good at something but what have you done lately to get better at that skill? Simply doing the job may not be enough anymore, in an age of mergers and downsizing. Do you want to risk being disposable or average?
The trap is thinking that you know all that you need to know and that putting in the effort to produce future growth isn’t worth the investment.
When you focus on getting better at what you do, your productivity increases. It’s what makes the good better, and those who are better can become the best.
Take a course, read a book, or consider where your skills may fallen behind the pack.
Just remember that success is not an entitlement.
FYI: My book, Stuck on Yellow, is just a few days away from hitting the shelves. You may enjoy this behind the scenes report on its creation.
