I don’t watch a lot of commercial television– the ads make me nuts so I pass and watch movies instead. But the Olympics is in a class by itself– endless ads, followed by about a milisecond of actual athleticism — and I can’t tear myself away from the boob tube.
Actually it cracks me up– this willingness of mine to endure the agony of the ads for a crack at the miracle these athletes present every time they’re up to skate, ski, curl, luge and bobsled. I am besotted.
It is just so incredibly rare to see the result of obsessive commitment– to see the possibilities held within the human body and spirit. I hold my breath each time one of the athletes is ‘up.’ I imagine the years and dollars spent on rinks or slopes or gyms. The endless hours their moms and dads woke at 4am to cart them to available rinks, the weekends where the family packed up the van and drove to the nearest slope so little Johnny or Lindsey could race with the team. The absolute commitment these young athletes made to themselves to push to their own limits and see how far they could go.
Most of us throw ourselves into tasks with intensity and a desire to do excellent work. We try to consistently bring our best selves to work and to use our talents to solve problems and grow our companies. But I also think there are very few of us who approach our jobs with Olympian intensity. I wonder what we might create if we could push into the unknown with confidence, hope and a dream the way these Olympic athletes do every single day.
Few of us are world class at anything– that’s partly why watching the Olympics is so captivating. We are witnessing the fruit of the labors of the best of the best. Maybe our very best won’t get us a medal or an endorsement, or global adulation– but if we are really pushing out the edges of our gifts, we will feel our own particular and very satisfying rush of adrenaline, we will be contributing at our very best and if you hum the national anthem under your breath– well who’s to say you’re not on your own version of the podium ready to receive flowers and gold.
