How You Can Be A Gold Medalist

As we watch the Olympics we are marveled by the level of performance of all the athletes. We think about all of the (s)training and commitment of these athletes as they explore their fullest potential. We are in awe of those that earn a gold medal. We wonder what it must feel like to be for at least “one moment in time” (a Whitney Houston song) the best in the world.

Most of us cannot be an Olympic Gold Medalist, although we can and should try if it is something we are passionate about, for how else would you know for sure.

Yet there is something that you can be the best in the world at that no one else can. That is being YOU. You can in each and everything that you do explore your fullest potential and discover the person you were destined and created to become.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“May you use all of your possibilities for the benefit of many.” – Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the  Lubavitcher Rebbe

Read below the related Oldie But Goodie of 2/20/12

Competing With Yourself

The truest competition is not the out doing of another; rather it is the out doing of our present selves. To discover our purpose we must constantly mine and discover our potential (see Limits of Unlimited Potential). Our goal is to tap into all of our potential available at that moment, in all that we do. From athletics to relationships to….. Each time we do that, we find we are capable of more. A champion is not necessarily number one, but is one who gives their all at every moment in all they do.

When the great Rabbi Zusha was on his deathbed, He was surrounded by family, friends, and students. They saw him crying and asked if he was crying because he feared death. He explained that he wasn’t afraid of dying. He was afraid that when he died and met G-d, he wouldn’t be asked why he wasn’t more like Moses or Abraham; he would be asked why he wasn’t more like Zusha.

“I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.” – Mikhail Baryshnikov