We are a week into the 21st Winter Olympic Games and once again the games always give me inspiration and motivation to become better. I love the story lines and when you see the athletes accomplish what they set out to do you can’t help but to feel good and inspired to go out and do something. My question for you today is, “Do you have what it takes to win a gold medal?” I know you are saying to yourself, “I am not an Olympic athlete, so why do I care if I have what it takes to win gold. Well, I look at life and goals as a contest or game. I am sorry but I do not believe in the notion that everyone gets a trophy. You either accomplish your goal or you do not. Simple! So, if you buy into this philosophy  of what it take to win gold you will want to see what it takes. Here is what I believe it takes to win gold in life?

Dream – Every Olympic athlete has a dream of standing on the podium, wearing a gold medal, and hearing their national anthem play. They have this dream as a kid and play it over and over in the mind until it because reality. What are your dreams? If you do not have a dream you are missing the key ingredient to success.

Focus –  After listening to all the athletes and their stories the one thing that I continue to hear over and over again is that they have unbelievable focus. Their goal is to win gold and they do everything to reach that goal. They do not get distracted by all the noise out there. Focus on what you want to accomplish and filter out the noise.

Perseverance –  Another common attribute that Olympic athletes portray is that they consistently overcome setbacks and failures. Whether it is injury, failure, or just some bad luck the most common theme amongst them is constant  persistent and determination to push through the pain and failures to reach that dream.

So, do yourself a favor and over the next week of the games watch and study the athletes. Listen to their stories and then, ask yourself, “what are your dreams, what kind of focus do you have, and finally, make yourself persevere to achieve your goal.