Category Archives: What I’m thinking (Thoughts and opinions)

As Your Career Matures, Anticipate That The Fun Will Too.

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Winning my third gold medal wasn’t the same thrill as winning the first but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t still fun to do. I had to learn/accept that it was just different. As a career matures, so must ones understanding of where the ‘fun’ comes from. If you think your career is void of joy chances are you’ll start feeling as if you’re grinding away, stuck in a rut and missing out on something. If you know how to find the joy in your career, even as that joy manifests itself differently over time, chances are you’ll remain curious, engaged and moving forward – and forward is fun!

Recently, when I was putting together a presentation for the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) I wasn’t convinced that talking about Starting Happy so that you can Finish Happy would entice a bunch of lawyers to come to the luncheon where I was to speak. This topic isn’t about trying to be all skip-happy with a giddy smile but upon introduction it might sound that way. It is a discussion about confidence in your preparation, dealing with hard conversations, anticipating change and challenge and knowing that you are the ‘someone’ that you’ve been waiting for. These four pillars create a “Start happy” foundation that is likely to lead to accomplishing your goals thus “Finishing Happy”. Still, I felt that idea of a discussion of being happy wouldn’t draw the lawyers in.

I then considered going with my core message, which is about a relentless pursuit of more. I was pretty sure that if I came at the lawyers with a presentation on doing more I’d lose the room too. This is a group of people who pride themselves on an extended and grueling education followed by a career of long days often clocking 60hr workweeks. If I pushed ‘more’ on this group – they might start throwing their buns at me!

The Start Happy/Finish Happy presentation had come from a conversation that I’d had in Sochi, which turned out to have a great impact on more than one person. I often use moments like that, concepts or ideas that come from interactions with ambitious driven people, as the foundation for the various speaking presentations that I give. The concept of more was no different. It came from my own experiences and was reinforced over the years by observations and conversations with many athletes that I’ve worked with. The idea is that when you’ve ambition to achieve a goal, when you get to that point where you think you’ve done everything, there is always a bit more that you can do; do more, be more, try more, learn more. But happiness and more just didn’t seem to be right to use as the framework for my OBA presentation.

Both concepts ‘Start Happy’ and ‘More’ apply to lawyers as much as anyone but I wanted to come at them from a different angle. So my brain stepped back from lessons that I had taken from isolated moments and considered my whole career of observed (and experienced) moments. It was one of the first times that I’d looked at it that way and I was struck by a sort of a-ha moment. Continue reading →

Thank you Steve Nash.

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Was pretty happy to say hi to Steve behind the scene at the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony. Later he would be one of final 4 who would light the Olympic Cauldron

I was pretty happy to say hi to Steve behind the scenes at the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony. Later he would be one of final 4 who would light the Olympic Cauldron

In 2012, Steve Nash wrote the the foreword to my book, The Power of More. I remain so grateful to this amazing Canadian. This week we learned that he has retired as a player from the NBA. In an article about Steve’s incredible legacy, The Globe and Mail columnist, Cathal Kelly wrote, “At 41, Mr. Nash had fully inhabited his imaginative space in NBA history. He was the skinny kid from Nowheresville (i.e. anywhere in Canada) who’d willed himself to the very top. He was a guy who’d outsmarted the game.” (full article)

Steve’s ability to “will” himself to the very top was because he, as he wrote in my book, believed in  “taking the time to lay out your path in measurable steps, a practical approach can instill a beautiful confidence that comes from knowing you can actually achieve what you’re setting out to do.”  Steve’s incredible work ethic is legendary – he always broke things down to their base details, drilled on those details until he mastered them and then used them to his greatest advantage. As Mr.Kelly also wrote “What Mr.Nash did in his prime…was marry the cerebral with the kinetic. His primary gift as a player was that he thought at speed. That’s what the best players do in any sport. They slow then bend time.”

Anytime you set a goal for yourself, you create the possibility of success; with Marnie’s book, you also create a plan to see it through.

When I was writing my book, The Power of More, I can’t tell you how thrilled and honoured I was when Steve agreed to write the foreword. Of all the global champions that I know from professional and olympic sport, and all the philanthropists, business people and politicians who have made their incredible successes seem easy – Steve was my first and best choice to ask. Knowing his attention to detail and dedication, I was sure that he would also embrace my concepts of breaking things down into manageable steps – and he did, and still does.

Steve’s foreword wraps up with him saying, “It teaches you that you can be excited about what comes next, and that you get to dictate so many of the terms for yourself. So read it, and then, as Thoreau said, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.”” Well Steve, I hope the same for you now.  I hope that you will be excited about what comes next.  Like the mythical phoenix (Phoenix Sun ?), from the ashes of the “1st death of an athlete” will rise something spectacular. Once you figure out the terms that you want to dictate to yourself – go confidently – I’ve no doubts your next career will be something pretty awesome.

Good luck and – thank you Steve.

Sincerely,

Marnie

Here is the foreword that Steve wrote for The Power of More – How Small Steps Can Help You Achieve Big Goals.

I’ve known Marnie since I was a teen, when she was training at the Victoria City Rowing Club in my hometown, and I’ve run into her at two Olympics since. Continue reading →

Speaking about Start Happy Finish Happy…

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Showcase2014-Recap

In March, I was part of the Speaker’s Spotlight Showcase, the event tag line is, “Live, Learn, Leave Inspired”. I love this kind of thing! A number of really talented speakers speak on a wide range of topics; each is given 20 minutes – (which for a speaker can kind of be a bit stressful! 20 minutes? Do I hit the fun stuff, or the substance? better yet – how can I cover both!) – and there is so much to learn from everyone. It’s awesome!

It was just after the Sochi Olympics so it’s no surprise that that was where my mind was. I had recently written a blog – Start Happy Finish Happy, and  I went from there.

I’m pretty sure that this talk was the start of a new presentation topic for me – it really is fun and ties in a lot of ideas that I’ve been working on for a long time. Here’s a quick clip..

Truth Dare and Consequences – Olympic Style

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Truth – “Fake it until you make it” doesn’t work at the Olympics. Lack of preparation and training will be exposed. Experience can go a long way to fill in the gaps – but there is a reason that the best way to feel at the Olympics is ready. Confidence, swagger and opportunities reside in those who are ready. That is the truth.

Dare – I dare you to believe that you can be the best in the World. Done that already? I dare you to do it again. That challenge is a pressure that weighs on every Olympian’s chest. The best part is – they choose it to be that way. We learned a long time ago that there is no courage without fear.

The moment where we test ourselves against our goals can be described as a Can I? Will I? moment – it is a moment of controlled fear. In the flash of that moment we present ourselves with question – we are fully aware of all that makes us “normal” and we try to remember all that makes us ready to do something special – and we ask – Can I do this? And more importantly Will I do this? This is where an Olympian is dared to step up – or step out.

Consequences – This is why the Olympics are different: one moment every 4 years, sometimes one opportunity in a lifetime. The pursuit of Olympic success is more passion than pay; a young lifetime of committed time, health and injury management and constant dedication to the smallest detail. All of which is gambled against a cadre of others who are just as committed. At the start line – every athlete goes ‘all-in’.

This gamble and the reality of this all or nothing consequence is why we catch our breath when an athlete we’ve never heard of before, from a country we’re not from and in a sport we don’t follow falls that we catch our breath. This is why our heart races as our Canadian Team athletes chase fractions of points, seconds and scoring opportunities. We know that all the emotion at the finish line has more to do with all the speed bumps; the trials and tribulations of getting there as much as the result.

I went to 3 Olympics as an athlete. It seems increasingly impossible that I had five opportunities to test myself and surreal that I (we) won three times (twice in ’92, again in ’96), took bronze (’96) in the fourth and had to withdraw with and injury (2000) as my end.

God I love watching the Olympics now. I am so inspired watching these athletes – my peers now – rise up to the Truth, Dare and Consequences of their Olympic Can I? Will I? moments.

What could possible be interesting to watch when they are done? Bring on the PanAm’s, Bring on Rio.