In today’s highly competitive world, far too many athletes get distracted by what their competition is doing. They become too preoccupied with beating a certain opponent instead of just concentrating on themselves. To these athletes, winning means being number one, coming in first and nothing else. Losing or being the runner-up is viewed as a failure. However, if you measure your level of excellence by comparing yourself with an opponent, then you are seriously limiting yourself. Cochran is absolutely right! The secret to success is doing the best that YOU can do. Excellence is about YOUR BEST and no one else’s, regardless of the outcome. Focusing on what your opponent is doing will only serve to knock you off center, disrupt your concentration and get you too uptight to perform to your potential. Instead, you want to stay within yourself. Forget about what your competition is doing. Do everything in YOUR power to achieve YOUR goals. Focus on YOUR training. Work on YOUR weaknesses. Practice YOUR skills and technique. And when you compete, trust yourself, know that you’ve done everything in your power to prepare, and just let the result take care of itself. Remember, winning is about what YOU do, not what your opponent does. If you do everything possible in your training, if you leave no stone unturned, if you give it your all and truly go for it, then forget winning and losing, you are a true winner!
“The secret to success is doing the best that you can do. Forget about whether you might win or lose. By working hard and practicing the skills that you need to perform, the results will take care of themselves. Being successful is about doing your best.” – Barbara Ann Cochran, Gold medal Olympic skier
