Your Olympic Best

Studies show the average employee wastes two hours a day on personal business like Facebook etc. That equals about three months of lost productivity per year, per person. Ouch!

 

As a motivational speaker on extraordinary Work Performance I explain how top performers go above and beyond what they’re asked to do by their bosses/clients to exceed expectations and succeed in today’s competitive market.

 

Extraordinary is the new norm in the 2012 workplace.

 

Extraordinary has always been the norm to win gold at the Olympics.

 

Pictured here holding the Olympic torch with police escort prior to the 2000 games Down Under, is my Aussie gal pal Dale Krieg Knappstein. Dale was a swimmer in the 1960 Olympics in Rome and here’s what she said last week during a speech she gave to an elementary school in Adelaide, South Australia:

 

“You have to be extraordinary to win.

  

7 billion people in the world                                     

19 days of competition

10,500 athletes

26 different sports

205 countries represented

302 gold medals

Out of all the people in the world the odds of getting the gold are almost an impossibility.

I came home from Rome without a medal. I felt I had failed my family and my country. Many years later I figured out that at the time, I was one of the top ten 100 meters freestyle swimmers in the world. That’s not bad! Now I’m older I realize that I didn’t fail. I gave it my best shot, others were just better.

From right: Dale Krieg, top Australian athlete Dawn Fraser & coach Harry Gallagher

Today let’s celebrate the dedication and sacrifices needed to become an Olympian.

Then let’s celebrate all the people in this world who give it their best. Not just in sport but in every human endeavour.  We can’t all have gold, silver or bronze medals. (Hey – nothing wrong with silver and bronze!) but we can all give it our best and if we do, this world will be a better place.”

It sure sounds like the USA would be a better place if we all did our personal best at work.

Maybe then all the stuff at Walmart would be labeled

“Made in America”.

Related articles

• And the gold medal for partying goes to…Belgium cyclist looks worse for wear as he celebrates end of his Olympics (mirror.co.uk)
• Six gold Sir Chris Hoy says five gold Redgrave is Britain’s best Olympian (standard.co.uk)
• Tired Of Watching All Those Athletes Winning Gold, Silver, and Bronze? (lornasvoice.wordpress.com)
• Van Koeverden finds silver lining in Olympic medal win (insidehalton.com)