When Usain Bolt lit the Birdsnest in 9.69 seconds in 2008 to become the fastest human being ever and then shattered that record with 9.58 seconds in Berlin a year later, what is that one thing that will spur him on to swoosh even faster? Sorry, but run just does not describe 9.58 seconds. It is not the money, because he is worth more than, I think, he will be able to spend in his lifetime. I am sure that the things that will drive Usain to even greater heights is when he sees the ecstatic euphoria sweeping through the stadium, having sixty-five thousand people singing happy birthday as he stands on the podium to collect his gold medal and later when one interviewee after another proclaims their pride in being a Jamaican. For me, as a proud Jamaican, Usain Bolt’s purpose in life is not only to be the fastest man ever, but to bring pride, unity and hope to his homeland. He is truly excellent because of the self-belief that he is inspiring in the lives of thousands of boys and girls and adults in Jamaica and the world over.
Excellence can be described as the end of a journey. Going on a journey, you need two important bits of information. Most importantly, you need to know your destination. Secondly, you need to know what direction will take you to your destination. I am certain that the moment Shelly-Ann Fraser decided that she was going to be an athlete; an Olympic Champion, a World Champion, the first question in her mind was how? What does she need to do in order to achieve her goals? It is said that everything starts in the mind, including success and failure. Before you embark on any course of action, you need to be clear in your mind on the task at hand. You then need to control and focus your mind in a way that empowers you to take the right action that will lead you to your goals. This is as important to gaining success in your exams as it is important to achieving success in your chosen career. I call this mastering your mind.
Mastering your mind is not something you do one time and move on. It is a continuous process of growth. Have you ever experienced a moment when you feel totally in tuned and feel like you have the power to do anything? You will notice that those feelings do not stick around and soon after, it was just like a dream and you wake up to the realities of life. Suppose you could take that feeling of power and keep it going and put it into all of your activities, what do you think would be the result? This is the positive attitude that makes Melaine Walker, Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Brigitte Foster-Hylton and our other athletes into winners. An attitude is a way of thinking or behaving. It is a continuous process, something you do whether you feel like it or not. Can you imagine what you can achieve if you master your mind on an ongoing basis and apply that to something that you like and are good at? You do not need to imagine it, just look at the achievement of our athletes – second at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Berlin, Germany, with 19 athletes gaining medals.
To apply one’s self means to give one’s full attention and energy to a task. That is the bit that we do not usually see. Ask Usain Bolt how much training he had to do in order to achieve his goal. He would be lying if he said, I am tall and strong and naturally gifted, so all I have to do is make sure I am on time for the start of the race. Action – only consistent action, consistent training, and it helps if you have one of the best coaches in the world to give you constant advice, support and encouragement. So if you find what you are good at and enjoy doing, discipline your mind in a focused way, maintain a positive attitude and take the right action over time, you know what the result will be.
So you have achieved your desired result. What next? Excellence – you have achieved true excellence only when you have used what you have to make a positive difference in the world around you.
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