Last month my message to the athletes was about having fun. It always seems that people who are winning, particularly career champions who win a lot, walk around with a twinkle in their eye; like they know a secret. To me that always indicates that regardless of how incredibly hard they are working – they LOVE what they do and they’re having a lot of fun doing it.

This month’s message is back to business. Business for Olympic athletes is training for a really big sporting event – but like big projects in other careers (exams, job interviews, sales presentations, conferences (particularly in exotic destinations!), trade shows, car/home purchases, event planning etc etc..) we have friends and family around that get excited and want to be involved in our work. They want to support and share in your big opportunity but in order for their help to be effective, how “involved” they can be needs to be defined. A conversation needs to be had.

Sometimes an athlete really needs their parent to be a parent- not a coach, not someone to plot strategy, and not someone blowing smoke in your eyes with un-objective praise. Athletes often say that having their family at the Games is incredibly important to them, but they really need them to stay at some distance. For each athlete that distance will be different.

I can’t see how that is terribly different for how people need to interact with parents, partners, and/or team mates/ co-workers in other endeavours – at all performance levels. Generally, I believe we have no problem being specific with the people who are directly involved in a tasks about their role. We hesitate to have the same conversation with those who may be peripheral to the task but are involved in our life. It is naive to think that they have no effect on our performance. We throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater and can undo all our hard work when we fail to be specific with those people about how they can help; where they can be, what they should/shouldn’t do and even what they might/might not say to be supportive.

If you’re going to doggedly turn over all the stones that directly effect your ability to achieve your goal – be professional and thorough about turning over the ones that indirectly effect your abilities too.

(note- the following Mentor Message has been slightly edited – removing some Canadian Olympic Team specific materials)

No stone unturned

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Days are getting shorter, darker and colder… Yay! Winter!! Which also means that in 4 months it’s Game-On!!!

One of the many things that makes the Olympics different from the countless other competitions that you go to, World Cups, X-Games, and World Championships, is the involvement of your friends and family (F&F).

Some of F&F’s may have been very hands-on, and fully present throughout your career while others may have been supporting you at a distance – letting you do “your thing”. The Olympics tend to be “the” event that gets everyone uniquely excited. It makes people feel that they should get more…involved. For the F&F that have been with you throughout your sport career – at your side through all the highs and lows –it’s natural to want them to share in the ultimate of sporting competitions

While an increase in F&F involvement, curiosity and attendance is great – it’s important to make sure that everyone understands what level of “involved” is best for you and your success at the Olympics. Continue reading →

Without intending to – as a mentor – I find myself often trying to warn the athletes that I’m working with about something. I use the precious moments that I have with them to give a ‘heads up’ – so that they can avoid any number of delays or pitfalls. I hope for their journey to the Olympics to be as smooth and for them to perform to their potential.  Perhaps for that reason many of my messages could be considered defensive tools.

But when you are trying to become good – or even great!-  at something, while you might be aware of defence – you are probably just loving the offence! The forward motion that it brings is so much FUN! We should hope to never disconnect from that. When I remember how much fun it was to be really good at rowing – the memory doesn’t just make me smile; it makes me beam! To be improving, becoming the cutting edge of your industry or class – setting the pace… that was amazing. I try to connect to that same joy when ever I can – regardless of what I’m doing or how good (or not!) I am at it.

Messages about joy, fun and unbridled curiosity are just as important as any warning. But I will say – I was quite amused by the number of athletes who sent me a note after last month’s “Bubble Wrap” message. They let me know that their sport was all about adrenaline – and that they need to train that part of them too. Almost without fail – their admonishment to me was then followed up with an anecdote of their cliff jumping, mountain biking or some other non-winter Olympic sport adventure where my message made them “think for a few seconds before I do something that may be a bit crazy!”      That’s all I could have hoped for!  😉

Your work doesn’t have to be Olympic in scale for it to be challenging and rewarding. Some part of it – if not all – should be fun. Don’t get caught focusing only weaknesses, problems and the things you don’t like – look also to your strengths, the positive interactions and the (intrinsic and extrinsic!) rewards….

September’s message is a reminder that life is fun.

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Do you ever wonder – “How did I get this amazing life?!” Continue reading →

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will begin in 189 days. Athletes have been training for years and are now entering the final stretch. For winter athletes, summer is not as much vacation time as it is hard-core training time; just because there is no snow or ice, doesn’t mean there is no work to be done! They say that Summer Olympics medals are won or lost in January – and so it is that Winter Olympic medals are being won and lost right now. Many winter athletes are about to start the transition from their summer season of planning, conditioning and high volume training to a season of travelling, on-snow/ice training and competition. Olympic years feel like very long years for those involved.

For all of us – regardless of the task or level; in sport, business, education, arts, etc. – transitioning from a preparation phase to a test phase can be …’dangerous’. The routine of preparation for a big specific goal is usually methodical and includes many checks and balances; proper task assessment, warm ups and cool downs. Similarly, competition and test phases have their own routine packed with preparation, imagery, rehearsal and assessment. It is the in-between time, which allows for recovery and regeneration – a breath!-, when our relaxed level of focus can lead to sloppy errors, mistakes or injuries. This month – I wrote a little reminder to those preparing for the Sochi Olympics that while they go through their transition – that now is not the time for a set back – they may want to bubble wrap themselves for a bit. 

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This month I’m re-purposing a popular message that I wrote for the athletes prep’ing for the London Olympics. It has to do with living your life – but not being reckless – your Olympics are just around the corner, so continue to be smart.

To be sure – one thing I have learned being a mentor to both summer and winter athletes is that most winter athletes go a lot faster, deal with way higher acute risk factors and as such – have a much different take on adrenaline. That said, everyone has dreams, performance-stress and … from time to time, a natural instinct to want to blow off a bit of steam…  when you do – Continue reading →