The 2016 Olympics continue to produce incredible stories of determination, focus and lessons about competing at a high level. One of the most popular images to surface in the past week came from the last stretch of the Men’s 200m butterfly with Michael Phelps out-swimming his rival Chad Le Clos on his way to winning his 20th gold medal.
What’s very clear from this image is how Phelps is completely locked in on his goal while Le Clos is looking to the side to see how Phelps is faring. There have been many captions assigned to this photo, however the most popular one by far is:
“Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners.”
In other words, “winners” focus on their own goals and “losers” focus on what other people are doing. There is a powerful lesson in this principal. Do we decide to live our lives each day focusing our time and energy on our own goals? Or do we focus on keeping up with someone else? As Phelps and many others have proven over time, it’s much more rewarding to live by our own definitions of success than to worry about what others are accomplishing or thinking.
Have a great weekend!
