Gold Medal Mindset: Thinking Like Olympians To Realize Our Greatness

You’re listening to She Grabs The Mic, and I’m your host, Cole Baker-Bagwell. Every week, we’ll explore what it means to be happy, present, and whole.

You’ll hear from courageous women who are kicking ass in their lives, and leave with actionable tips that you can apply to reset from toxicity, tune into your gold, and live powerfully from the bedroom to the boardroom.

Right now, it’s time to grab your headphones, kick back and relax, and get ready to be inspired.

Welcome, Amazing Ones! I am so glad that you are here.

Thank you for choosing in today from wherever you are around the world.

You are my why for She Grabs The Mic, and I am sending you big, big, big love!

I’ve been feeling a beautiful sense of nostalgia recently, thinking about all of the traditions my son Luke and I shared when he was a little guy growing up.

Some of our favorites were Game Nights on Tuesdays in our PJs, swinging on our front porch reading stories before bedtime, long summer trips down south to visit my folks, morning homemade birthday waffles with candles, and our tradition of hauling our art supplies out of the closet to make tiny American flags just ahead of the Olympics.

Luke and I counted down those days with so much excitement. We loved the colorful opening ceremonies.

It was fun to learn the stories of athletes and their families from all around the world. We enjoyed watching them live their dreams in real time and of course, cheering on Team USA with our tiny flags in hand.

And this year is no exception. As I’m cheering from my home in North Carolina, I’ve noticed something powerful.

I’ve been watching through a different lens ever since Snoop Dogg carried the torch on the opening day of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Maybe I have a different kind of awareness this year.
Maybe, just maybe, I’m a little bit wiser.

Or, maybe it’s because I know that achieving our dreams by realizing our greatness isn’t restricted to Olympians.

Achieving the seemingly impossible is possible for all of us when we have the right mindset, tools, dedication, and belief in ourselves.

This week, we’re going to talk about how to think like an Olympian to achieve your dreams and goals.

I’ll share some of the “aha” moments I’ve had by watching the 2024 Olympic Games through a different lens.

I’ll tell you about the core ingredients these athletes have that have helped them navigate challenges, overcome adversity, and thrive on the other side.

And I’ll share three things that you can do to develop a mindset of greatness that will help you take one more step closer to achieving the goals and dreams you have in your own life.

Okay. The “aha” moments have been astounding and I think I’ve largely missed them every time before.

I was so consumed by the competition and the muscles and the training and the sheer awe of human physical ability that I missed these other things that I’ve really been tapped into this year.

Like saying yes can lead us to joy.

My heart has soared with every single glimpse of the bright-eyed athletes, their loved ones and their coaches.

I’ve been especially moved by the Ukrainian teams who managed to make it to Paris despite living in a war-torn country for more than two years.

Now they had every single reason to give up on their training. They had every reason to abandon their dreams. They had every reason to say no to traveling to the games.

But they chose to say yes in every single case, and they made it. And as I’ve watched them compete, I’ve noticed the pure joy on their faces because for just a little while, their choices gave them a sense of levity and unity, safety and comfort.

They’ve reminded me that saying yes, even when it’s hard, can lead us to unimaginable joy as well.

I’ve also realized that we all have greatness inside of us.

One of my favorite parts about the Olympic Games are the behind-the-scenes stories of the athletes.

Some of them are funny stories. Some of them are comeback stories.
Others are stories of adversity, loss, and amazing sacrifice. They remind me of what’s possible, which makes all of them inspiring stories.

What I’ve noticed this year is that what happens behind the scenes when no one is watching is what truly inspired their greatness.

Coaching has taught me that we are all born with greatness, and these Olympics have been a punctuated reminder of that. How we choose to see ourselves through our stories is the difference maker.

I’ve also noticed that smiles, kindness, and love work in every single language.

More than 10,000 athletes are competing this year from every corner of the world. Among them, they speak roughly 200 different languages.

Now, that could be a major barrier and divider when it comes to this kind of international event.

Instead, what I’ve noticed is the unity they’ve created by sharing the universal language of smiles, high fives, love, support, hugs, excitement, and pure, unadulterated joy.

In a world that feels so divided and fractured, these athletes have reminded me that we can experience amazing unity, common ground.

We can learn what’s possible if more of us shared more of that. Without ever saying a single word, we can come together, and I think that is a really beautiful thing.

I’ve also noticed my tendency to typically flip through commercials or use them as little intermissions for runs to the bathroom or to grab a glass of water. This year, I’m committed to watching the commercials.

I’m noticing that they are not only sponsoring the athletes in their dreams, but to my surprise, they are almost as touching as the games themselves.

One of my favorites is a Toyota commercial with the tagline, No Journey Is Taken Alone. Wow! That struck a chord with me, and it is still playing in my heart.

Those five words reminded me that no matter how alone we might feel, there is always someone walking beside us if we just take the time to look left or right.

When we’re audacious enough to see our own greatness, we can see the greatness in others.

I’ve also noticed that teamwork is truly dream work.

When we work together, we can achieve even greater things than we can on our own. The U.S. Women’s 4×100 Relay Team is a prime example.

Sha’Carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, Tamari Davis and TT Terry, oh my god! Those women came from behind, pulled out the win and made history by combining their superpowers and working together.

Simone Biles and the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team are another example. Less than 48 hours after a nearly debilitating calf injury, she rallied and by working together, she led her team to Olympic gold.

The U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Team is another example. These guys hadn’t won a medal in 16 years!

Every member of the team performed amazingly well in the final round, but the medal came down to one person, Steven Nederoskic. After waiting quietly for hours on the sidelines, waiting patiently, his pommel-horse routine got his team on the platform.

Working together makes us stronger.

Now, sure, these athletes are superhero-talented. Of course, they’ve been training for years to achieve this one big-ass dream and goal.

But what makes these people truly exceptional is how they choose to meet every challenge, from debilitating injuries, immense loss and war, to keep pursuing their dreams, because they are so determined.

This year, I noticed they share a few core ingredients these Olympians share that I think we can bring into life as well.

They are intrinsically motivated.

Their dreams and goals are specific and clear, and because they are, they are attainable.

They are dedicated and they are determined to achieve.

They realize every single setback makes them stronger.

They are resilient because they have developed coping skills that support every forward step they take even when they fail.

They’ve learned how to turn pressure and anxiety into fuel.

They are focused on the process more than the result.

They have fun along the way.

And they believe that they are possible.

And this one is the mother of them all! This one belief supports a mindset that ignites all of the other core ingredients on this list for these Olympians.

I noticed examples of all of these core ingredients as I watched the men’s gymnastics team that I mentioned just a few minutes ago.

The team had underwhelming initial qualifying performances, riddled with misses, falls, and mistakes. How’s that for a metaphor for life?

But they didn’t sulk, throw in the towel or think negatively. Instead, they forgot what happened before.

They focused on what was in front of them, and they treated every moment after the misses and falls as a new opportunity to succeed. They believed they were possible and they medaled as a result.

When they were interviewed about how they reset to make their massive comeback, Brody Malone said, “I told myself to go back and fix my mind.”

Frederick “Flips” Richard, boy, is he fun to watch!

If you haven’t seen him, I would highly encourage it. This guy is a ball of energy and so amazingly positive.

He said he told himself, “Keep your mind on your game and on your tools.”

These Olympians like so many others at the games made an active choice to shift their mindset.

As a result, they were able to overcome adversity, realize their greatness, turn anxiety and pressure into fuel, and achieve their goals.

This year, I noticed that their mindset made everything else possible for them.

And you know what? We can make those same choices for ourselves every single day too.

Okay. If you’re ready to develop a mindset of greatness, that will get you one step closer to achieving your dreams and goals, I have three little micro coaching tips to help you get started.

Grab your pen.Here we go.

1. Believe that you are possible. Self doubt and fear will take you down quicker than anything else. They are debilitating energies.

They create a debilitating mindset that will keep you stuck and ruminating on every single mistake you made, on every reason why you can’t.

Get rid of those energies and replace them with the belief that you are possible, because you are. We all have greatness inside of us if we choose to see it.

2.  Get specific and super clear about what you want for yourself.

Tamara Sandifer has a great quote that she shared with me in a recent episode of She Grabs The Mic. She says, “Vague dreams get vague results.”

I couldn’t agree more. When was the last time your floppy idea of a dream actually panned out?

When did you achieve something you used to think was impossible because you got clear?

Stop waiting for someday or the perfect timing. Stop making excuses.
If your dreams and goals are important to you, get clear on why that’s true.

Imagine not achieving your goal and then connect with how you would feel if that were the outcome.

Then, see yourself achieving your goal and connect with how that would feel for you.

Create an action plan. Break it down into attainable baby steps, and then start taking one baby step and then another.

3. Develop coping skills that will help you keep going even when you miss fall, or life gets really freaking hard.

Mindset is everything. What you believe and how you think dictates your actions and your outcomes.

Start with your mindset and build from there.

Because if you do, the impossible will become possible, and you will be able to realize your own greatness.

YOUR KEY TAKE AWAYS FOR TODAY ARE:

1. Saying yes can lead us to unimaginable joy. So say yes, take a chance, be audacious enough to dream.

2. We all have greatness inside of us. We just have to choose to see it. And when we can see it in ourselves, we can see it in others.

And when we do that, oh my God, we create a beautiful chain reaction in this world that leads us to collective greatness, just like the teams at the Olympics.

3. The 2024 Summer Olympics are jam packed with lessons on life, possibility and the immense power of the human spirit.

What have you seen? What have I missed? Send me an email and let me know.

Thank you for tuning in today! I hope you’ll follow the show and come right back here next Wednesday and every Wednesday after that, because you are the wife where she grabs the mic.

Before we scoot, I want you to remember this:

There is only one you in this big beautiful world. And, in case no one’s told you yet today, that is the thing that makes you truly amazing!

Big love, everyone! I’ll see you next week.

And that’s the end of the show today, everybody.

I hope it has served you well. Thank you so much for tuning in.

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If you’d like to learn more about me or my work, check out my website, colebakerbagwell.com.

Until next time, remember to be super kind to yourself and do your very best to leave everyone and everything just a little bit better.