You Don’t Have to Be an Olympian to Go For the Gold
The Olympics always stokes the patriotic fires, ignites our love of both champions and under-dogs, and touches the spirit of greatness that lives in each of us. There are so many stories that come out of the games, some of triumph over the odds, some of defeat and loss, and others of great competition and comradery. There is something about sports that touches us deeply and somehow makes us each want to do better, set goals, and strive hard to achieve them. When you think of athletes spending their whole lives training for races that last only minutes, it takes commitment to a whole new level.
What can you take from the Olympic spirit and apply to your life? Can you commit to setting some goals? Can you sacrifice at a fraction of what the athlete must sacrifice in order to hit your goal? Can you keep moving forward when there is no crowd to chant your name, no record to set, no line to race across?
This week, think of what “winning the gold” means in your life. Maybe it’s re-committing to your savings plan or starting the holiday shopping early so that it is paid for before the big day. Maybe it is cutting up that credit card and envisioning a zero balance a year from now. We all are “going for the gold” financially in many ways – heck, some months, we are just trying to keep a little of the gold in our bank account despite all of the “musts” that lay claim to it every month. Take the athletes’ fire, strength, dedication, and commitment and transfer some of it to your life. See yourself hitting the gold medal mark in some aspect of your financial life and then cheer yourself on to victory.
Every athlete who competes in the Olympics had to commit and recommit; take a step forward and then perhaps suffer some setbacks. They all had to gut it out when it was hard, lonely, and seemed like they could never reach the mark. The Olympians are the ones who kept at it, doing what they could do every day. This week, take the Olympic spirit and direct it toward the things that are most important in your life and then go for your own personal gold.
To your financial success!
