I was lucky enough to meet Olympic Gold Medallist Duncan Free whilst delivering talks in Queensland recently. 4 years ago he gained a bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics and subsequently worked extremely hard to ensure that the next medal he would gain would be gold. He was more than happy to share some of the secrets to his World Conquering performance in the rowing. So what is it that champion 'gold medal' athletes do:

• Visualise the end result with clarity. What will you see, hear and feel when you get what you desire? This is a powerful motivator and plants the 'gold medal seed' in your subconscious mind.
• Have unwavering self belief regardless of what others might say, think or feel.
• Discipline - work hard and stay focussed towards the outcome you desire.
• Set times and markers along the way towards your goal - these keep you on track. Duncan would count each stroke and know exactly where he needed to be in relation to the competition to be in order to beat them.
• Utilise your strongest points and use this against the competition - for Duncan it was the last 1000 metres where they knew they had the edge on the competition.

Duncan had achieved his dream of Olympic Gold and stated that it was a defining moment in his life. He was able to keep a decidedly, level head despite his world beating efforts - something I truly admire. His down to earth approach reminded me of a quote from the movie 'Cool Runnings:'

"If you are not enough without a gold medal - you'll never be enough with it."

Duncan was clearly more than enough without the gold medal - but ecstatic none the less for achieving what he set out to do. I think there is another great message that stems from this:

'Winning isn't everything - it is who you become in the process that truly  counts.'

Dreams and goals are something we should all have - they give our life direction and meaning. There is great power and energy that flows in going after what you want...Even though the end result is important, it is the growth in us as individuals that is the major benefit. Success is not so much in the destination, but in the journey itself.

Enjoy your journey and may you achieve everything you set out to!

"Search your heart, open your mind, live the dream."

Cheers, Blake Beattie

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Blake will be speaking in Piabla, Gold Coast, Wollongong, Hervey Bay and Sydney over the next few weeks. Blake has also been chosen to present at the largest HR Summit in Singapore in 2009. If you are interested in having Blake present to your organisation and deliver unbelievable value and results feel free to visit:

http://www.blakebeattie.com/bookings.php

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