I was in total awe watching the 2024 Paris Olympics.
I was energized and inspired by being able to witness athletes achieve such feats that many said were previously unachievable.
This led me to contemplate the
high-performance habits we follow and teach at the Amplified Life Company, so we dug in a bit to research some of the best athletes showcasing their skills in Paris.
CASE STUDY:
Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon “Cook-n-Bacon”
Paris 2024 Olympic Silver Medalists, Women’s Synchronized Diving
To achieve a silver medal in women’s synchronized diving, both Cook and Bacon had to overcome multiple challenges, including devasting injuries that set them back multiple times from achieving their goals.
However, they both persisted, but that persistence would not have happened without three things:
- The support and encouragement of the right coach and community around them.
- The intrinsic drive they both embody is shown through the seemingly small acts repeated daily, which, over time, led to big results.
- Being willing to do things differently, to get uncomfortable, to fail and go back to the drawing board and go all in again.
Bacon attended the University of Minnesota as part of the elite diving team. During her 4 years with the team, she was able to dramatically change her physique. Because of this significant change in her physique, she took her diving to the next level, spinning faster and making dives way easier, with her entries being even cleaner.
This change was thanks to her coach, who sat her down her freshman year and told her that if she wanted to be exceptional at the sport of diving and reach her full potential, she was going to have to change something. With that advice, Bacon committed to cardio every day, lifting heavy weights and diving three hours a day. Read that again: she worked 3 hours a day on her craft.
When was the last time you spent 3 hours a day on something that you say you’re “going all in on?”
After watching and listening to Cook and Bacon speak and reading multiple interviews, it became extremely apparent that they each hold a deep sense of intrinsic motivation and a drive and determination to do the mundane, small steps required daily to achieve greatness. They are willing to go for it all, fail, go back to the drawing board, do things differently, and go all in repeatedly.
“It’s 90% mental, 10% skill is what I would say. If your mental game isn’t strong in this sport, you’re gonna fall apart and crumble,” Bacon said.
“It was that moment when all your hard work comes to fruition. Sometimes that doesn’t always happen. You don’t always get the result you want, and that’s happened to us before,” Cook told USA Diving.
“Once we landed in the water, we knew we landed in the water as Olympians and that we were going to Paris. We were just overwhelmed with emotion.”
Key in on what Cook told the reporter here, “You don’t always get the results that you want….”
Isn’t that true with just about anything in life? Unless you’re simply going through the motions of everyday life, cruising by and not ever challenging or stretching yourself.
Just watch this video of their dive in the 2024 Olympic Trials that punched their ticket to the Paris Olympics: THIS VIDEO
Their coaches?
Their family, friends, and other team members that were there cheering them on?
That’s what I noticed right away!
When asked about mental resilience, Cook recently shared this, “It’s been hard mentally,” the Indianapolis native said.
“I remember having a conversation with my boyfriend before I decided to go to the Olympics. I just asked him, ‘Is it all worth it? What happens if I come back and end up not making the Olympic team.’
… And he looked me in the eyes and said, ‘No, you’re going to go back. You’re going to dive, and we’re going to make your dream happen.’ So happy that he talked me through that and pushed me to come back.”
I am still in awe.
I am next-level inspired, which is the true definition of aspirational!
That formula is: Inspiration + Action = Aspirational
In closing, the three themes that continued to be presented time and time again that amplified athletes from good to great, from skilled to exceptional were:
- Failure is part of the process.
- You cannot become an Olympian on your own.
- Intrinsic motivation is required to do the mundane, small steps required daily to achieve greatness.
Here’s to discovering greatness in your journey of life and business.
