Author Archives: Marnie

Your want-to sweet spot

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It’s getting so close. You’ve done so much work, been through so much, dreamt for so long. Your Olympic goal is just around the corner and you just want it so badly. But be aware of wanting success so much that you cross over to feeling like you have to be successful. Feeling like you have to achieve is a very difficult place to perform from.

Right about now – less than 60 days until it all begins – is sometimes a difficult time to remember that you love what you do and that it’s mostly fun. It’s been an unusually long year with higher training volume and intensity coupled with all the consequences of selection and qualification. With summer racing and competitions in full swing – we become fully aware that there are very few second chances left. Add to that the almost constant hum of expectations from our family, the media and sponsors that are ever present, whether we are focusing on them or not. But remember, nobody wants or expects more from you than you – this is your ride! You’ve earned it and more importantly – you are ready for it. Continue reading →

A Recipe for Success

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Olympic gold medallist Marnie McBean outlines a strategy for setting and achieving goals that can be applied to business – or any aspect of life

By George Hartman | June 2012  for Investment ExecutiveHow often have you set a goal and achieved it? Chances are this has happened to you a number of times. Feels good, right? Now, how often have you set a goal that others have said was too high for you – beyond your grasp and capabilities – and achieved that one? Not as often, I bet. But how good would that feel?

Marnie McBean, three-time Olympic gold medallist and winner of numerous other championships, knows all about setting audacious goals and, more important, what it takes to defy the limits that are imposed on us, either by ourselves or by others.

In The Power of More: How Small Steps Can Help You Achieve Big Goals, McBean describes her journey to world dominance in the sport of rowing – the dreams, the challenges, the pinnacles of success and the depths of disappointment. Part autobiography and part confessional, the book also is invaluably instructional and inspirational for anyone who has set their sights on personal accomplishment in sports, business or life.

As the title suggests, the book’s theme is about breaking large goals into smaller pieces and doing “just a little bit more” when the task seems too difficult. That is, pushing yourself one notch closer to your goal, whether it is connecting with that elusive new prospective client, perfecting an important presentation, completing a tedious project, climbing the CN Tower or running your first 10-kilometre race. (Which, coincidently, I did one week after reading this book, with McBean’s words – “Just one more step” – carrying me to setting a personal-best time.) Continue reading →

Lucerne and its lion

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I’m in Lucerne for the weekend to watch a World Cup rowing regatta. So so nice. So many friends and familiar faces – the last time I was here was in 2004 – but Lucerne is like mecca to a rower. There is something very special about racing here… it is like our Wimbledon.
On the way to the Rotsee where the regatta takes place is one of my fav places on earth. There is a monument – the Lion Monument that is a memorial to the Swiss guard who stood to protect the French king that they’d been hired- and swore to protect. (Louis XIV of the Marie Antoinette – Let them eat Cake fame… ) Of course the mobs overwhelmed and killed the Swiss Guard.  The monument is carved into an impressive stone wall – a cliff almost and shows a Lion who has been mortally wounded in combat. He is dying a valiant and brave death. Part of me always thought that high performance sport, and I guess specifically rowing, is like that. Before the race you know that you will need to throw yourself onto the sword. We choose to go into a battle that will feel like it’s killing us – and yet we do it anyway. In it’s peaceful way, it is brave and valiant. I used to stop here on my way to races that I was nervous about and somehow it made me feel brave and valiant too.