Setting new goals and keeping your New Year resolutions

CatMedal

Putting a medal on a cat might seems way easier than putting jam on one – but the ‘jam’ has to come first!

After a conversation with Matt Galloway, the host of CBC Radio’s Metro Morning ( Toronto, RadioOne) a podcast of our conversation and this article was posted on CBC Books web site. Their title is partly right… but the truth of the “Jammed Cat” is that it helps anyone achieve any goal, big or small. In no way is the Power of More about Olympic size goals only.

How to win an Olympic medal with a jammed cat

Three-time Canadian Olympic gold-medalist Marnie McBean knows it’s a weird concept. But she can’t help comparing her journey to becoming Canada’s most successful summer Olympic athlete to a cat slathered in jam.

One day, McBean’s jam-covered piece of toast fell, she told Metro Morning. Of course, the toast fell jam side down. It always does. Most people, would make a new piece of toast, but McBean started wondering if there was any way to stop the open-faced sandwich from falling that way.
“What happens if you put jam on the back of a cat and you dropped it?” she said. “It would never land … like a perpetual motion type of machine.” Continue reading

For Olympic champion Marnie McBean, the proof is in the medals

Athlete shares how wanting more can fuel the path to success

by Jules Torti, Special to the Vancouver Sun (Link to article here)

The Power of More

By Marnie McBean, foreword by Steve Nash

Greystone Books, Douglas & McIntyre, 257 pages

If anyone is entitled to writing about achieving goals, it would be a three-time Olympic rowing champion with three gold and one bronze medal as testament. In The Power of More, Marnie McBean translates her infectious energy into a book that is the equivalent of verbal Red Bull.

There is an instant pep rally momentum to her easily digestible subtitle: “How small steps can help you achieve big goals.” We are introduced to the mental physique of a retired athlete who has already proven her physical endurance — and her continued high-octane enthusiasm to be better and more is contagious. Humbling anecdotal moments where McBean admits nearly quitting, failure, disillusionment and frustration quickly level the playing field. She’s normal, she’s human. Continue reading

A Recipe for Success

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

One week later – The Power of More has launched

Power of More Book launch at Ben McNally's books

Signing books at my book launch. Yes that's a Corona by my side and yes - that is Cdn author, Peter C Newman waiting for his!

On May 17th, at Ben McNally’s gorgeous bookstore in downtown Toronto I hosted a little party to celebrate the publication of my book. (Really, if your downtown – pop in. 366 Bay St. 2blks south of Queen. St. It’s kind of a magical place for books.)

For me- it was a very special night. Not just because my book was actually real and being sold but because so many people came to show their support for me. People from so many different corners of my life; my partner, our families, friends from rowing, university, my GirlImpact trip to Africa, the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid, my Tuscany trips, other Olympians and journalists – who came not to work, but as my friends, and so many others.

The plan was to begin greeting people at 5pm and then at around 6:30 I would address the group after that I’d sign books. Corona (Thank you Courtney and CoronaExtra!!), wine and some hors d’oeuvres would be served – I wanted this to be a celebration! As people began to arrive, all my worlds were colliding!  I felt as if I was a dog in a squirrel park! I didn’t know where to focus. How was I to keep everyone happy? Ben McNally, the book store owner, had warned that once I sat at the autograph table I would be stuck there – with no chance left to wander and gab through the crowd. Turns out – that was the perfect thing for me – at the table I only had one person to focus on and that was who ever it was who handed me a book!

I acknowledged a few special people who had come. My parents of course, and Deanah’s parents as well as her sister-in-law and her adorable two nieces. I thanked my aunt and uncle for coming from Vancouver. (It was their 50th anniversary but I was sworn to not make a big deal of it – Happy Anniversary Woody and Sherrill!). Peter C Newman and his wife had come, he’s written 24 books and sold over 2 million copies. I said I’d be happy with a mere million. I got a raised eyebrow and a laugh in return. Brian Williams was there; he’s the legendary canadian broadcaster – he’s covered 13 Olympic Games and I will have the privilege of working with him this summer at the London 2012 Games where I’ll be a Studio Analyst.  Continue reading