Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Success is what YOU make of it.

That's right, no one defines it but you.
Eddie the Eagle Flying into my Heart.
To support my case, I call Michael "Eddie" Edwards to the stand. For you young'uns, Eddie the Eagle Edwards was the lone member of the Great Britain Ski Jumping team in the 1988 Olympics. Google him or something.

He was the great hero of my last semester. Because he was, in the eyes of everyone on the International Olympic Committee, and the rest of the nabobs running the show in Calgary, the antithesis of a successful athlete. Nearly blind, out of shape, working class, only 20 months of training, and super, super popular with the spectators. I mean rock star popular. The athletes loved him. Everybody loved him, and he even appeared on the Tonight Show.

But IOC had decided he wasn't "serious." That he was making a mockery of The Games. Eddie on the other hand , was having a terrific time. Being a competitor in the Olympics was his gold medal.

When I started doing research for a recent seminar on success, he sprang readily to mind.

Why, because Eddie knew what his "success point." was. Make the Olympics. He was on the British Ski Racing team, and went all over Europe (camping in his car) to ski. He'd been denied the opportunity to ski on the British team by about .2 seconds on his qualifying run. So, he looked around for what nobody else was doing, and did it. No one was on the British Ski Jumping Team. There wasn't a British Ski Jumping Team.

Eddie said, "why shouldn't there be a British Ski Jumping Team?" and became the British Ski Jumping Team. So, he trained in Lake Placid, got back in his car, and went all over Europe to qualify. No sponsors, no nothing. He even slept and worked at a mental hospital in Finland. @) months after his decision to be the British Ski Jumping Team, he was marching in the opening ceremonies.

And then he jumped. On borrowed skis (from the Austrian Team), protected by a borrowed helmet (from the Italians). And those jumps transformed his life.

If you want to learn how to properly define success (in your own inimitable way) watch this video.

Don't forget to take notes.

Eddie still works as a plasterer, like his father,
his grandfather, and great-grandfather