A Quadrennial Reminder of My Own Quest For Excellence

With just 5 days left of competitions for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, I am already dreading the the end of the Summer Games. I love the Olympics. Ever since I can remember, I have loved the games. I remember vividly watching over the years and this year marks the 20th anniversary of my special accomplishment of working at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. This year also reminded me of something I'm not so sure I'd recognized before... my absolute love of excellence on display.

I was a tomboy jock girl for as long as I can remember. I loved all sports and all things about sports - playing, watching, coaching. I was a competitive tennis player from age 10 - college. I played other intramural sports at two universities. I've coached a sport I love and know well but could not play very well. I've coached other sports because there was a need. I started my career in sports marketing before it was a "thing" and major college track in the early 90s. I watch sports from around the world and have for many years now. I am a sports fanatic and I partially blame that on losing my mom and female influence early in life and growing up in a sports town like Chicago.

It make sense that a woman like me would love the Olympics. And I never questioned or thought much of my love of the Olympics as it just seemed natural for someone who loved sports as I do.

Until now.

This year, as I am recalibrating my life and examining EVERYTHING I ever thought about myself - I came to a new and exciting discovery. It is not only sports that attracted me to the Olympic Games all these years. It is the quest for excellence.

Mark Spitz
Serena Williams
Mary Lou Retton
Greg Louganis
Dominique Dawes
Michael Johnson
Usain Bolt
Marion Jones
Bruce Jenner
Carl Lewis
Nadia Comenci
Michael Phelps
Simone Biles
Simone Manuel

Those names ring in my ears long after I've been exposed to their excellence because seeing them on the world stage is a reminder of what happens when you excel at your craft. When all the years of practice come down to that moment in time when you exceed even your own expectations - it is glorious. It is inspirational. It's also been my main attraction to the games even beyond my love of sports.  

From a very young age, I have had an insatiable thirst for excellence and the Olympics was one of my quadrennial and tangible reminders of that. Of course, we get to view excellence in many ways, shapes and forms but not quite in the same way as the Olympics. Literally, the whole world stops to celebrate the individual and collective accomplishments of these athletes and their drive for excellence in their respective crafts. And while, I never believed in my own sports abilities enough to pursue excellence there - I have pursued excellence in my work throughout my life.

And at the tender age of 44, I'm starting to see the results of that pursuit manifesting in my business and the work we are doing to change the world, one relationship at a time.

Thank you Rio 2016 for that great reminder and new found inspiration for excellence.

Don't Stunt Your Olympic Opportunity

I have always loved the Olympics!

I can remember as a third grader in Mrs. Irvine's class at Carl Sandburg Elementary School, writing what my goal was for the future; to work at the Olympic Games.

Amazing.

Even at the tender age of 8, I was not already active in nor in love with any particular sport but very tuned in to opportunity. I knew that besides the athletes, there were really important people needed to pull the games off. After that, I did participate in several sports and was a very competitive tennis player through college. However, I never had a desire to be an Olympic athlete. I was married to my third grade dream of working there.

In 1996, at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta - I fulfilled that 3rd grade declaration and worked as an venue media coordinator at the Georgia World Congress Center where we hosted 8 sports. It was an awesome experience that I will never forget. Ever.

But I can't help but reflect on the power of my words over my own life at such a young age. Before I'd ever played any sports seriously, I'd counted myself out of one of the most prestigious sports events.

I can even remember hearing my own words echo in my ears as I lost big tennis matches over the years. I remember when I was in high school in 1988 and tennis was reinstated as an Olympic sport. That was the height of my tennis career. I played year round in tournaments and was briefly ranked in the Midwest as a junior tennis player. I was courted by colleges to play and spent almost every weekend in 1988 playing tennis. Yet I never manifested a desire to play in the Olympics. Not even that announcement from the IOC motivated me to change my declaration of working at the Olympics as an 8 year old.

Do you see the power of what we speak over our lives? How many times do we say stuff, innocently, that could be closing off opportunity in our lives? Clearly as a 3rd grader, I had no idea what my future held but my little proclamation did hold true.  Who knows? Perhaps I could have been an Olympic athlete. Now it does not matter but what does matter is what I say and put out in the universe regarding my life. My future.

I only speak success about my upcoming book release or the opportunities my company bids for or pitches. I speak positivity about my kids and their dealings. I speak love and harmony over my marriage and my husband.

Make sure you, too, harness the power of your own words over your life.