These are the words that came out of my mouth moments after I came to the profound realization that I was about to turn down an opportunity of a lifetime. An opportunity to earn a spot on a 3 year national Olympic training program, geared towards Rio 2016… The Olympics have been a life long BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) of mine.
Let me briefly share with you the story of how I got to this point.
About 2 months ago a friend informed me that the National Rowing Program was holding a Talent ID Camp at SFU. They were looking for strong crossover athletes to assess. Since one of my life long goals is to compete in a world sport and ultimately at the Olympics, I thought this was a great opportunity to see what potential I had as a rower.
I attended the ID Camp with an open mind.
It turns out I have the body, strength, and mental toughness to be molded into a pretty good rower. Potentially even a great rower. I was quickly identified as a “high potential athlete” that qualified for the several steps of the national development program. This was followed by a couple of meetings to understand process, expectations, complete some more testing, etc. I came away realizing that there was an opportunity here for me to follow a very regimented progress track that had been proven before and could put me at national and Olympic level in 3 years time.
My Pursuit of Excellence Manifesto
As I started to assess the opportunity, I used a specific equation to evaluate the likelihood of success. Here were my criteria:
The first piece of the puzzle in pursuing excellence is the individuals drive, determination, and mental toughness to reach their BHAG. On top of this the individual must acknowledge the real level of commitment, sacrifices, and ultimate “giving up” of other things in order to achieve this BHAG.
Beyond that, there are 3 key factors that I assessed before identifying the opportunity as a pursuit of excellence:
(Note: these are applicable to any pursuit of excellence inside of out of athletic)
Access to Resources
Accomplishing something that only few do in life requires huge amounts of dedication and time. However, this dedication and time must be aligned with the right resources – the book Outliers by Malcom Gladwell does a great job illustrating how the combination of dedication aligned with access to resources creates a powerful equation. For example, the fact that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had almost exclusive access to 1st computers built when they were very young, before the wider population, played a big role in their eventual global success in this field.
In the case of my Olympic rowing opportunity, I confirmed that I would have access to resources needed. This was a national program that groomed top-level crossover athletes with the end goal of developing national team rowers.
Access to Top Coaches and Mentors
The second factor is having the access to truly exceptional coaching and a mentor or role model. Whether we look in the business world or the world of sports we see that the great individuals and leaders that emerge often times give overwhelming credit to their coaches and mentors. The people who helped shape and mold them on their journey to success.
Again, I was able to confirm that this rowing program offered these resources. I would have access to some of the best coaches in the country in a variety of different capacities. For me this would be a critical as the technique and skills was where I had huge amounts of ground to make up.
Environment and Culture
Finally, the last factor I assess when looking at an opportunity to pursue excellence is the culture and work environment. I ask myself a series of important questions: Is this culture one that empowers it’s members to pursue excellence? Are the leaders and stakeholders of this community willing to go the extra mile to make this happen? What are the characteristics and traits that are most valued in this community? Are these geared towards pursing excellence?
Through the couple of training sessions I attended I was able to again confirm that this environment was all about supporting the athletes to pursue excellence. I have found this type of culture and environment to be rare both in the business world and the world of athletics. It is a powerful place to be immersed.
The Stage was Set…
It seemed as though this was the perfect opportunity to pursue rowing as a full time commitment and work towards achieving one of my BHAG’s of competing in the Olympics. Some of you may be thinking that it’s not that easy, you can’t just have all of these factors align and make it to the Olympics…
I would argue that it is.
However, it was now time for the hard part, looking deep within to see if that first piece of the puzzle, the drive, commitment, and passion, was living inside of me.
The Process of Making a Life Altering Decision
Over the course of the next couple of weeks I looked at this opportunity from every angle possible
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I made an exhaustive list of pros and cons
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I surveyed friends, family, experts, ex-rowers to get a truer sense of my position and realistic expectations.
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I consciously let it go, giving my Jungian subconscious time to process and report back.
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I talked with my wife Natasha who offered trusted feedback and guidance, along with loads of support.
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I offered it up to the Universe.
I will be honest in saying that this was an extremely tough and emotionally exhausting process (an important reflection and an early sign).
Profound Clarity from Within
… In the end I tried to convince myself from every conceivable lens why this would be a great opportunity and I was crazy not to pursue it.
And then I had the very clear realization that it was Okay…
It was okay to let it go.
It was okay to honor what my gut and subconscious was telling me clearly even though I disagreed with it logically.
It was okay to acknowledge that I was not bouncing off the walls with excitement, being filled up with contagious energy, and so anxious to get started… Even though that is what I always thought I should act given this opportunity.
When we are in touch with our true and inner self, it is amazing how powerful the clarity can be…
The decision had been made, likely by my subconscious weeks before. I contacted the coach and expressed my sincere gratitude for their time and the opportunity, but that I knew intuitively I could not honor the commitment and dedication I was well aware it would take to achieve this BHAG.
The most powerful piece of learning is that despite turning down an opportunity I never ever thought I would… I felt good.
I knew I had made the right decision.
Here are some of the learning’s that I am walking away from this experience with:
Listening to Your Inner Self and Gauging Energy
You can weight pros and cons all day, debate what your getting versus giving up, and get input from other stakeholders and perspectives. You will always be left with a subjective assessment that will have you jumping from one side to the other.
The more powerful and aligned decision making process is when we absorb all of the information above, and then reflect internally to see how it resonates with who we are at a foundational level. This can take time and requires creating the space to be open and accepting of the self discovery process. In the end, how you feel and what happens to your energy (suck vs. fill) will be exponentially stronger indicators of the right decision than the subjective analysis of pros and cons.
By Saying “No”, What are we in turn saying “Yes” to?
The thought process we go through when making an important decision is typically “what will this decision get me”, “where will it take me”, “what are the benefits and personal value?”. Essentially we assess and analyze what saying “Yes” would mean for us.
My encouragement and challenge would be the next time you have a decision to make, consider by saying “No”, what are you in turn saying “Yes” to. Not only will this give you another way of thinking about the decision, but it will also help you assess both sides of the equation equally.
For me saying “No” to my Olympic rowing dream meant I was saying “Yes” to many things:
- To continue to pursue the exciting “Unknown”. Rowing would be 4+ years of knowing exactly what to expect. I realized that I am loving the risk and reward that has come along with not knowing exactly what is next for me. I think this is an important time in my life to continue exploring this space.
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I am honoring my relationship with Natasha, our adventure and journey together, which in the next 4-5 years can be as exciting and daring as we want it to be.
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I am creating the space to pursue the building of a world class Crossfit Team and culture. And accomplish another BHAG of competing at the Crossfit World Games.
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I am saying Yes to continuing to build my own brand in the personal leadership and digital communications field.
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I am creating space to continue to honor my spiritual side and passion of travelling the world to surf.
Trusting the Universe
There is a cosmic rhythm and heartbeat to everything we do. Whether for you it is praying to your God(s), believing in something deeply, or an offering to the Universe, I am a believer that how and where we intentionally focus our energy is what we will see manifest in our lives.
I am confident that if competing in an Olympic sport is something that is woven into the fabric of my soul, the right opportunity will come along J.
Thank you for joining me on this personal journey. I would love to hear your thoughts after reading my experience.
Did I make the right decision?
How do you approach these types of decisions?
How do you FEEL after reading my experience?
~Tyrell
