The Power of Goal Setting

It’s been with true amazement, over the last eight days, that I have watched Michael Phelps, aged 23, win eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.

Prior to the games the international press had speculated as to what the swimming stars main goal was to be. Michael hadn't shared this with anyone but his coach. In a press conference yesterday after having been decorated with his eight gold medal he shared with the world that this had in fact been his dream, his goal, an achievement that he gave his all to attain. He remembered back to his school days and his English teacher telling him that he'd never be successful. He smiled as he put that statement into present context.

Michael has over the last eight days raced in eight events, won eight gold medals, smashed seven world records and one Olympic record. A simply amazing achievement. One that has made a true mark on sporting history.

At times he faced adversity - his goggles filling with water during the 200m butterfly when he had to blindly rely on counting his number of strokes to gauge his turns to perfection.

Every second counted. His 100m butterfly saw him claim his gold by one hundredth of a second; when he had to push his body to its absolute limit in order to keep on track for his goal.

He relied upon the endurance of his fellow team mates in the team events. If there was ever a race to watch that demonstrates the sheer power of working as a team it would have to be the 4x100m freestyle final. Each swimmer giving their ABSOLUTE best in order to attain the common goal - victory! Pushing themselves and the performance of others to such a point that each of the eight countries taking part in the final broke the world record.

The games to me have been about this one man and his strive to reach his goal. He never gave up. He pushed himself to his limits and then went even further. He dealt with challenges and then moved on. He didn't get distracted by commentary or hype. He remained focussed. He has sacrificed the last four years of his life and more for this one day.

"Rather the pain of endurance than the pain of regret".

Michael Phelps I salute you!