Go For The Gold: Your Olympic Media Manual, Week 4

Week 4: What Do Ashton Kutcher And Olympic Athletes Have In Common?

Welcome to week four of Go For Gold: Your Olympic Media Manual. For the last several weeks, this blog series has been your Olympic viewing companion. Thank you for sharing how it’s serving you. I am thrilled that you see how watching the Olympics with the strategies of this blog will grow your media presence and business.

Every four years I am blown away by the greatness of Olympians. We all know such a high level of accomplishment takes rare talent, but it’s about much more than that.

There’s an important lesson here and it’s one we can all benefit from no matter who we are or where we are in life.

Achieving greatness requires work.

It’s not enough to have talent or desire. As any Olympian will tell you, their achievements are a result of hard, sustained work. They had a goal and they committed to doing what it took no matter what.

Just ask Ice Dancing Gold Medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White. They’ve trained together for 17 years and spend 10 hours a day moving toward their goal together.

Or listen to what Hollywood megastar Ashton Kutcher said about work last summer at the Teen Choice Awards. That speech went viral and his words were, “Opportunity looks a lot like hard work.”

The Olympic competition is not won in the moments you see on TV. It’s won in the years and years of commitment that led to that point.

I’ve seen this lesson play out in my own life. Everything I’ve ever achieved came as a result of work along the way.

That’s how it goes with media as well.

Often people watch seemingly effortless TV appearances by established experts and assume it was easy.

Not true.

Yes, natural ability is a factor, but when you see a successful expert on TV, you should assume that appearance was years in the making. It’s years of honing their messaging and practicing with great mentors who coached them along the way.

That’s not to say that with the right strategies (like the ones I provide) you can’t experience immediate success in building a media presence. It’s possible! But just like the Olympic athletes, the real pros work at it.

Does this mean that if you want to develop a media presence you need to drop everything and commit to 17 years like Davis and White? Absolutely not! But you do have to commit to doing what it takes.

Folks this is FABULOUS news because it means you are in my favorite seat, the driver’s seat. If you choose, you CAN become a great communicator. You can learn to grow your business with compelling messaging. You cannot put a value on what that would mean for your brand. It’s priceless.

Here’s your plan:

1. Start small and build. Go back to week one, week two, and week three of Go For Gold: Your Olympic Media Manual.
2. Choose just one strategy and focus on it. Maybe you want to work on honing your story. Perhaps you see a way to link your business to what’s hot. Maybe you want to bring out your passion. Choose an area and commit to change. When you feel ready, move on to the next goal.
3. Stay tuned for future training in this blog series and beyond.

By the way, am I saying I am perfect at this? Nope! Just like all of us, some days it’s hard for me to stay on course. But I know that I love seeing my hard work pay off.

During the Olympics we see that hard won satisfaction on the faces of our athletes. Don’t you want that too?

Gold medals come in all shapes and sizes. Just follow the plan. Do the work. Keep on track. It’s possible. It’s coming…

Stay tuned next week for the final installment of this special Olympic five part series. We are going out with a bang and you don’t want to miss that.

If you found this blog helpful, please email it to a friend or share it on Facebook and Twitter. And please tell me about your own work ethic in the comments below. I look forward to reading what you share!