Think Gold, Live Gold

What we call ‘elite’ at 8 years old or even at 14 years old and going into high school is a basic requirement at 18 when it really matters.  Being considered ‘the best’ carries an expiration date, and it expires when your peers’ game, skill, and ability out-grows your own.  The only way to push back that expiration date and to stay on top is to continue to work on your game, continue to listen to your coaches, parents, and anyone who can help you improve, and always find ways to get better.  The second you stop getting better is the second somebody will pass you up.

This is what ‘the process’ is, and your character drives the process.  To become the best that you can be, you have to work as hard and as smart as you can work. 

In A Champion’s Mind, author Jim Afremow says that we if we want to become the best that we can become, we should live by ‘Gold Medal Standards.’  Winning the gold medal in any sport means that you are the best at what you do.  To do so, there is a level of focus, work ethic, desire, intensity, grit and character that you must have every day. 

The first step to becoming the best is to know what you want to be your best at, to know who the best is, and to know what being the best looks and feels like.  

Imagine what a gold medal athlete in your sport does every day to get better.  Imagine how much rest they get at night.  Imagine how many days a week they work on their sport outside of their practice.  Imagine how early they get to the gym or field, how hard they work when they get there, how much they listen to their coaches, how much they encourage their teammates and how much positive energy that they bring.  

Imagine how gold medal athletes handle setbacks, losses, and failures.  Imagine how they handle winning and how both winning and losing pushes them to work harder.  Imagine how much they try to learn new things and how excited they are to learn new things.  Imagine how they react when they can’t do something [yet].  Imagine how they try to eat right, how they try to act right and how they try to live right.  

Imagine how gold medal athletes have gold medal habits on and off the field.  Imagine how they don't let their feelings or negative emotions affect when and how they work.  Imagine how they don't let negative influences or negative habits bring them down.  Imagine how they work hard to form positive habits that drive them to be better.  Imagine how they read about other great athletes to keep themselves motivated.

Imagine how they make other people around them better.  Imagine how they inspire other people.  Imagine it all.

Then go and live like that.

Every day when you get up, try to make it a gold medal day.  Try to win the day.  Try to do your best to live like a gold medal athlete lives.  If you do this over time, you too will be a gold medal athlete, or a gold medal coach, or a gold medal teacher or a gold medal doctor.  Know what the best looks like, feels like and acts like then live that way.  If you can be consistent enough, you will rise and grow to the top of your field and be among other gold medal athletes.