Episode #6: "The Championship Mind"

Transcript

On this episode of the Simply Brilliant Show, we're going to talk about the championship mind.

Hi everyone! I wanted to talk to you a little bit today about some more interesting things that I've seen in the world of ski racing. This entire show is not about ski racing. However, what we are going to talk about is the championship mindset. We saw two incredible victories and incredible athletes that probably most of you don't follow ski racing, and so the same sort of mindset would apply to championship soccer players, football players, and baseball players. I happen to follow skiing, so what I was looking at about a week or so ago was incredible performance my Mikaela Shiffrin and incredible performance by Lindsey Vonn. So let's just drill down into that.

And what I spoke to my team about, what I want to bring to your attention is the following. Mikaela Shiffrin is a young skier, I think she's 20 years of age. She's a slalom specialist and she was competing in the World Cup event for giant slalom, which is not her strong suit. And three gates from the finish line, she was leading the entire way, three gates from the finish line, she lost her edge and she slid out. And as a result of that, she did not finish the race. The very next day, she had to compete in the slalom, which is her specialty and she was largely favored. But what's amazing to me is she crushed it. She beat a near 40-year-old record for a sport that's measured in hundredths-of-a-second. Two runs, the combined time, determines the winner, she beat the next nearest competitor by over three seconds, which, again, has never happened before and the record prior to that stood for almost 40 years. The very next day, she came out again and won the slalom competition, so back-to-back major wins. And that time, she did it by about two-and-a-half seconds. So again, she just came out and gave it her all.

Similarly, Lindsey Vonn, at the same event, almost had a crash on the first day. She recovered and she won the race. That was her 68th win. And then the next day she came out and won her 69th. The following day, she came out and won the 70th. So both of these females are incredible athletes and dominating their sports. But really what I find most interesting and what I want to talk to you about is that mindset.

So starting with Mikaela Shiffrin. You can only imagine the disappointment, the embarrassment, the stress and anxiety that would go into falling three gates from the finish line in what should have been a gold medal performance. And one might think that the very next day when you go out to race again, you might be a little bit cautious, or you might want to make sure that you don't take aggressive lines or any undue risk because you really want to finish and win, or place second or whatever. But in Mikaela Shiffrin's mindset, that wasn't even an option. She went out there and she gave it her all. And she won by the greatest distance that's ever existed. So she was clearly very, very confident, she was very comfortable, she was interested in pursuing gold and nothing else. And she laid it all on the line to win. And that championship mindset, I think, is something that we can all learn from. Are we giving everything that we have to every single thing that we do? Or is it possible that we can give a little more? Are we settling for silver? Are we comfortable placing on the podium? Or are we really gunning for gold?

And so in Lindsey Vonn's case, you saw a performance where half-way down the course, she actually, almost, completed crashed. Her leg was off balance and she completed recovered. And in her mindset, there was no "Well, I'm out of this race," or "Man, I'm just glad I didn't fall and get injured," like she had a few years back. If you recall, she didn't compete in the Olympics because she tore her ACL and she spent the last few years through unbelievable strength training and physical therapy and recuperating and non-stop training. And she really wanted it back and she wanted to win. And so, in this race, when we were all watching, she almost wiped out, she caught an edge and looked like she might fall. And instead of saying, "You know what? I'm just glad I'm safe and I'm still standing, and take it slow," she continued to push and charge hard and she won that race. The next day, she went back out again and she won her 69th race. And the following day, she went out and won her 70th race.

And so, I hope that we can all find some inspiration in realizing that when you're trying really hard, you could accomplish anything that you want to. But more importantly, you really have to go for gold. You have to be willing to risk it all, you have to be willing to wipe out, you have to be willing to lose it, you have to leave it all on the track, or on the course, or on the field, because there's somebody else gunning for it.

So I hope you've enjoyed this Simply Brilliant episode. I hope you subscribe to it, and I look forward to speaking to you soon. Thank you so very much.

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